Abstract

Untoward wait time between a primary care referral and initial urgent specialty care appointment was identified during a root cause analysis at the project facility. Ambiguous role responsibilities and unclear referral processes were reported as contributors to the extended wait time. Care coordination policy has outlined key elements for patient safety improvement during outpatient referral processes. Process standardization and decreased wait times have been reported through pathway utilization in other healthcare settings. A facility-specific pathway was developed utilizing care coordination and clinical pathway principles. The purpose of the quality improvement project was implementation of a clinical pathway to decrease wait time between primary care referral and urgent outpatient specialty care appointment. The project process has been structured with a Plan-Do-Study-Act framework.

Author Details

Corlyn Caspers, DNP, MS, RN, ANP-BC

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Literature Review

Research Approach

Translational Research/Evidence-based Practice

Keywords:

Care Coordination, Outpatient Referral, Pathway

Advisor

Catherine Suttle

Second Advisor

Jo Ann Runewicz

Third Advisor

Sue Thurston

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Capella University

Degree Year

2017

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Faculty Approved: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

Date of Issue

2018-03-02

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