Do you want to improve patient access?

Here are some items to measure first

For any facility thinking about implementing the patient-focused access model, here is a measurement list recommended by Victoria P. Kahn, RN, nurse manager, and Marjorie M. Godfrey, MS, RN, director of accelerating clinical improvement; both are with the Hitchcock Clinic in Lebanon, NH:

- patient satisfaction;

- employee satisfaction;

- daily office visits;

- backlog volume;

- percent of patients seeing their own primary care physician;

- no-show data;

- arrivals per hour.

This measurement list, as well as information about implementing the patient-focused access model, is contained in the Improving Patient Access to Care Workbook, available through the QEMR Web site at http:www.healthimprov.org. The workbook is a plan of action, which details the important and essential "to dos" to explore a patient-oriented access system. (See related story, p. 92.)

[Information for the stories, below left and on p. 92, came from the QEMR Web site, which contains a variety of information on best practices, as well as tools and links for organizations interested in implementing some of the ideas. Visit the Web site at www.healthimprov.org.

For more information, contact:

• Marjorie Godfrey, RN, MS, Director of Accelerat-ing Clinical Improvement, Hitchcock Clinic, Lebanon, NH. E-mail: [email protected]. Tele-phone: (603) 650-7487.]