The PATA process is the Pre-Admission Testing Area in the Massachusetts General Hospital. This analysis brings about the situations medics come around and the different problems they face as they work for the benefit of everyone. From the case illustrated from the Massachusetts general hospital, the problem of overcrowding is significantly shown as we see so many patients visiting the hospital of which they suffer different illnesses and all expect to be attended to.
We may blame the organizational structure of the hospital but according to the number of patients as explained that they come from all over the country as the hospital is ranked as one of the top hospital, we find that is as a result of this that they are kind of slow in attending to the patients. The hospital also can change this through solving a problem one at a time and finally will find a solution to almost all the problems if not all. This being a general hospital needs to have procedures well censored so as to have quality treatment.
The letter sent to them shows how slow their process is as the waiting time is more than thpreciated for taking in all patients, but it would be better to formulate a better strategy to attend to their esteemed patients. It would be better for them to put into place modern technology so as to quicken their reception time.
The technology can be enhanced by already printing out cards so as the patient comes in takes one and also have a ticket issuing machine whereby when u get in you take your ticket with a number on it, then they improvise a microphone whereby when an exam room is empty the medic in there just announces the next number to head in there. They should also get in place an already saved excel document with the header information and whenever a patient is in the receptionist just fills in the details of the patient and this would also ease access if the patient comes back since only the name will be keyed in and all the details comes out for the patient.
Dr. Jeanine Wiener-Kronish is highly seen as a great doctor who discovered the vaccine for an infection associated with prolonged ventilator usage. This was a great discovery as this was the number one killer in the intensive care unit. When she is made as a high person in the organizational structure of the hospital, it clearly shows a great difference in running the hospital.
One of the biggest problems facing this hospital is waste of time. We find out that lapse of time in the hospital is like a twinkle of an eye forcing the medics to extend their time in the hospital where as they would be through with all the patients in the time given. The worst scenario is that 35% of the patients get out of the hospital unattended to and have to suffer the transport issues, accommodation and other problems to make it the next day not pretty sure that they will be attended to.
Another major problem is the organization of the hospital whereby a patient may even loose his or her way to the required room since there are enough nurses to attend to all the patients. This is understandable since as from the statistics the ratio of the medics to the population is highly different with an overloading of the medics. This hospital is no exception as we see the medics suffer a great problem working on one patient quickly so as to handle the rest of the patients especially those in critical conditions, those who are diabetics and those suffering from cancer. It's a good idea to favor them but also bad because it may lead to those who came early enough going back untreated.
There are no enough facilities in the hospital. The surgeons put a lot of effort to ensure that no operation is postponed but they find themselves postponing due to lack of enough operation room and therefore less revenue for them and also a lot of time estimated at 57,000 minutes every year.
We also see a problem in the registration of the patients. This is seen where when a nurse would forget to write her initials on the card of the patient she attended to and hence reverse the same process that was carried out to the same patient. This brings about a waste of time and lowers the confidentiality of the patient to come back to the hospital once again. It is also bad when a patient who has been waiting all day long to undergo another mysterious, tiresome process as a result of another person's mistake the person being the nurse.
The recommendations to be carried out in Massachusetts general hospital would be first increase their facilities, opening another branch of mass general west hospital was a great achievement but still before it can catch up with all the hospital procedures, get enough personnel is long and before then they should expand the hospital, building more exam rooms, laboratories and mainly the operation rooms. This would highly raise their revenue and also increase the number of surgeries not forgetting saving on the time wasted.
They should also limit the time wasted; this can be achieved by moving the closing time from 5:00 P.M to 6:00 P.M. they should also reduce the lunch break time to 30 minutes to make maximum use of the time available. They should formulate a schedule whereby an officer is given a certain number of patients she or he must attend to in a day; also they should open on weekends up to noon.
Another recommendation can be them putting into place signs on each door showing what the room is for, also they should organize the hospital in a manner whereby all departments are in the same area that is: for exam rooms on the same side of the building, the labs on their side and the operation rooms on their side to ease accessibility. They should also put in place the schedule to be followed on daily basis.
Lastly, they should enhance technology as earlier explained to avoid paper work which is tiresome and may bring contradictions incase just one card is misplaced.
The following diagram may explain better how they can organize the hospital;
Organizational structure; how a patient should proceed.
Receptionist -> nurse -> doctor
