ANNUAL REPORT - St. Joseph Medical Center

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SpyGlass Endoscope Technologies have greatly enhanced
doctors’ ability to treat liver, pancreatic and other digestive
problems at St. Joseph Medical Center. Through a process
called SpyGlass Direct Visualization, this new endoscope
provides a superb view of the biliary and pancreatic
ducts. SpyGlass enables troubleshooting for conditions
ranging from gallstones to cancer and leads to more exact
and effective treatment.
Using visualization provided by this high-tech tool, some
patients suffering from large gallstones can be treated with
lithotripsy (shock waves) and avoid surgery altogether.
Operating Room Tracking Systems
St. Joseph has undertaken an approach to effi ciency
in patient care adapted from business and automobile
manufacturing. The “LEAN TEAM” is leading the way to
redesign the patient experience by looking at best practices
and eliminating duplication or unnecessary steps.
The LEAN TEAM’s eff orts focusing on the operating
room have been bolstered by work with real-time location
systems (RTLS). The Surgical Department worked with
consultants to customize a model to track a patient’s
progress through the surgical process and to make that
information available to clinicians as well as to the
patient’s family.
Each surgical patient wears a badge that transmits to
sensors throughout the surgical unit, enabling the system
software to track that patient at any time through surgery.
The Surgical Prep unit has designed the patient intake and
assignment process to make the most eff ective use of this
technology and to reduce wait times. Operating room staff
members can easily monitor when the patient arrives and is
ready for surgery. PACU (Post-Anesthesia Care Unit) staff
can determine when patients are likely to complete surgery
and can be prepared, even requesting a bed assignment in
the medical center when the patient is nearing transfer.
In the waiting room, loved ones can check the patient’s
location at any time through the surgery process by reading
the information next to a privacy-protected code assigned
to the patient. As soon as the patient is admitted to a
hospital room, the location is posted on the screen.
In addition to the value of tracking patients in real time,
the data collected provides information that can be
analyzed to help improve patient fl ow and communication
procedures for the future. Serving as the Alpha test site
for ProcedureTracking has enabled clinicians to adjust
procedures to improve effi ciency. Fewer surgery delays,
decreased wait times for both patients and surgeons, and
improved patient and family satisfaction are tremendous
benefi ts realized already and showing even more promise
for the future.
SpyGlass operative team: Josh Foreman, M.D.; Andrew Rosenstein, M.D.; Lisa Hancock, O.R.T.