Health

Nurses working in out-of-hour clinics under varying demands will need to prioritize resources and quickly determine which patients are seen first. The Manchester Triage System (MTS) a validated and evaluated system, shown to provide high sensitivity and specificity with regards to under/over triage. The MTS method and an electronic MTS tool were tested in a pilot trial as a means of improving the efficiency in time spent on triages without reducing the quality. The aim was to explore the experiences of using MTS method and the electronic MTS tool at a accident and emergency out-patient clinic through audit of triage records, observation and focus group interviews. Significant practice variation was uncovered. The variation stemmed from interruptions, documentation routines and language issues. Small improvements in time spent was shown, but primary benefits lies elsewhere. Electronic triage seems to have a commensurable quality, with areas for improvement. Conclusions: The study has...

This report concerns the front-end planning in Norwegian hospital projects in the period from 2005 to 2009. The projects have all performed their planning processes according to recommendations n the guideline " Veileder for tidligfaseplanlegging i sykehusprosjekter " [Guidelines for front-end planning in hospital projects] published by the Health Directorate. The study builds on a mapping of 10 projects and discusses the background for and development and implementation of a planning-and quality assurance regime in the hospital sector. The report describes the structure of the guidelines, how the planning is performed and what possible effect these guidelines may have had on the decision making process and the quality of the documents produced during the process. Experience with the use of these guidelines in projects and the use of success factors are highlighted. The report discuss what positive effects are achieved by implementing systematic front-end planning in large...