Testing and Timing

Hospitals are continually striving to improve patient care and the hospital experience. Toumey Medical Center in Sumter, S.C., wanted to do just that by changing their test results process in the emergency department. Their specific targets were to speed patient care and discharge, improve test result communication among physicians, and reduce the time Radiologists and ED physicians spent trying to locate and talk with each other. 

Tuomey evaluated several systems, and I’m proud to say that they selected our Critical Test Results Management (CTRM) solution. I’m even more pleased to be able to share their results. 

“Amcom gave us exactly what we needed to take care of patients faster,” said José Bennett, PACS Administrator, Tuomey Healthcare. “During the three months immediately following implementation we saw an 11% improvement in patient discharge times. Even when test results are normal, the doctor simply knows this information sooner than before.” 

The software also tracks communications, providing a closed-loop system and full audit trail that improves compliance with The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal #2 (focused on how hospitals handle critical test results). “We can now track all of our messages and have reduced the back and forth phone calls between Radiology and the ED,” said Bennett. 

And lastly, CTRM is improving patient care by providing a follow-up for incidental findings discovered during exams. “If a patient has, say, pulmonary nodules that show up during a scan, these could become cancer in six months or a year. We can note these findings … and advise the patient and his or her family physician to follow up.”

 This is all great news - patients receive faster treatment and better follow-up care, and providers save time that can be spent with patients instead of voicemail. 

What are your experiences with the test results process? Does your imaging department or ED have special protocols for critical test results? How are incidental findings communicated to patients and their primary care providers for follow-up? 

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