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July/August 2006
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From the Director:
During the next month, the Regenstrief Center will finalize its strategic plan for the coming year. One of the unique characteristics of our research is a commitment to facilitating interdisplinary collaboration. By
drawing upon talent from all of Purdue's 13 schools and colleges, the center strives for a holistic approach to
healthcare systems research. In turn, our ability to design and implement effective and sustainable solutions is strongly linked to our strategic partnerships with professionals throughout the healthcare industry.
This issue highlights a number of collaborative efforts that connect the Regenstrief Center with state and
national healthcare initiatives. In Indiana, our center has worked alongside Indiana Hospital&Health
Association, Indiana University School of Medicine, Regenstrief Insitute, Healthcare Excel, and Indiana State Medical Association to launch the Indiana Patient Safety Center on July 1 (see Publicity).
On the national level, the Regenstrief Center is an active participant in one of 15 U.S. ACTION centers
established by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (see Partners). As a part of the Indiana ACTION Center, we are networked with some of the finest Indiana research and healthcare organizations to address national issues of care
coordination, patient safety, quality of care and health information technology.
These partnerships also provide unique opportunities for faculty and students in Purdue’s healthcare
engineering signature area (see People) to engage directly with healthcare professionals and to better understand the unique contributions of academic and healthcare cultures.
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Regenstrief Center marks debut of new project video series.
Read more.
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People
> Rardin promotes academic collaboration between Purdue’s engineering and health disciplines. More
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Lukesh joins RCHE team as communications specialist. More
Projects
> Researchers test success and sustainability of open access patient scheduling. More
Partners
> Indiana ACTION Center promotes innovation in healthcare delivery. More
Progress
> New video series highlights Regenstrief Center projects. More
> Association for Healthcare Technology conference scheduled. More
Publicity
> Regenstrief Center plays key role in new state patient safety center. More
> Purdue scientists and engineers collaborate on cancer care engineering project. More |
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Rardin promotes academic collaboration between Purdue's engineering and health disciplines
As director of academic operations for the Regenstrief Center, Ronald L. Rardin works to promote stronger connections between engineering and health disciplines at Purdue. “In our dynamic healthcare system, there is a critical need for ongoing system improvement research to deliver safer, cost-effective and efficient care,” said Rardin, also a professor in industrial engineering. “This requires engineers to appreciate the unique healthcare environment, and for healthcare professionals to understand the potential for engineering principles to improve the safety, cost, quality and efficiency of care.”
Rardin, who earned his doctorate from Georgia Tech and has served as program director for Operating Research and Service Enterprise Engineering at the National Science Foundation, is overseeing the development of an interdisciplinary healthcare engineering (HCE) signature area at Purdue. Faculty recruited into this area would work across traditional boundaries of engineering disciplines, team with other academic units including natural sciences, management, and clinical and health sciences, and collaborate with a variety of clinical partners. According to Rardin, the HCE signature area would position Purdue to pioneer processes and systems that can transform the present state of healthcare operations and to educate professionals needed to sustain such a transformation.
In May 2006, Rardin assembled top researchers at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va., to develop agendas for future healthcare engineering research (see full release). He also coordinates RCHE’s campus lecture series, which connects Purdue faculty and students with pioneers in healthcare engineering research.
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Lukesh joins RCHE team as communications specialist
On July 1, Erin Lukesh joined the RCHE staff as the center’s full-time communications specialist. She has worked for RCHE on a temporary basis for the last five months, and will continue her work to strengthen the center’s communication with research and industry partners.
Lukesh earned her master’s degree in health and organizational communication at Purdue, and has worked for Purdue’s human resources and employee wellness departments. Prior to graduate school, she was an employee safety and workers’ compensation specialist in a large medical clinic in California.
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| Researchers test success and sustainability of open access patient scheduling
Improvements in patient scheduling can help maximize clinic resources and improve patient satisfaction, according to Yuehwern Yih, professor in industrial engineering and RCHE-affiliated faculty member. She is currently leading research, in collaboration with the Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center in Indianapolis, to maximize the effectiveness and sustainability of open-access scheduling in a local outpatient clinic.
When the clinic used a traditional scheduling system, new patients had to wait up to six months for an appointment, leading many to visit the emergency room instead. In addition, 30 percent of all patients did not show up for their appointments at all, leaving physicians idle that same amount of time.
The clinic was interested in adopting open-access scheduling, a system that leaves slots open for same-day or next-day appointments. “Open access systems have been shown to reduce waiting times and no-show rates, but tend to fail in environments where patient needs and volumes vary greatly,” Yih said. “Some patients need more than a one-day notice to arrange transportation or schedule an absence from work. Others get frustrated when they are told to call back at a later date to schedule a future appointment. The key is to create a dynamic system that can flex with patient needs and changing environments.”
Yih’s team used a simulation to map the variability of the clinic environment and propose a dynamic scheduling approach that reduced patient waiting and physician overtime, and increased the appointment success rate to at least 90 percent. The team used clinic data (environmental factors, average number of patients per day, percent of patients who prefer same day appointments and “no-show” rates) to simulate the impact of different scheduling policies. Findings confirmed that total open access scheduling policies are not suitable for clinics with 20-30 percent variance in patient volumes.
Yih’s work compliments another RCHE study in patient scheduling, led by Ron Rardin (see People). “Environmental elements and patient demographics have a large influence on the success or failure of open access scheduling,” Yih said. “By studying open access in different patient-care settings, we can design successful scheduling approaches that are sustainable in more complex environments.”
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Indiana ACTION Center promotes innovation in healthcare delivery
According to recent literature, the publication and review process for new patient care research can last up to 17 years, severely delaying the opportunity for practitioners to adopt research advances and improve the quality of patient care.
To help speed the implementation process, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality established the Accelerating Change and Transformation in Organizations and Networks (ACTION) program to fund quality, demand-driven, rapid-cycle research that demonstrates sustainability and scalability of innovation.
The federal agency recognizes 15 U.S. ACTION centers, comprised of hospitals, long-term facilities, health plans, researchers and consultants. The Indiana ACTION Center, which boasts access to a community-wide clinical database and participation of local health systems as laboratories, includes the following research experts:
- Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering
- Indiana University Center for Health Services & Outcomes Research
- Veterans Affairs Center of Excellence in Implementing Evidence-Based Practice
- Regenstrief Institute
- IU Center for Aging Research
- Indiana Children’s Health Services Research
- Diabetes Prevention and Control Center
- National Opinion Research Center
- AHRQ Practice Base Research Network Resource Center
The Indiana ACTION center will have the opportunity to compete with other ACTION centers for AHRQ funding in response to research task orders on a variety of topics, including coordination of care, patient safety, working conditions and quality of care, healthcare for priority populations, and health information technology. The AHRQ is a unit within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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New video series highlights Regenstrief Center projects
The Regenstrief Center is pleased to announce the debut of its project video series. The 2-3 minute vignettes provide insights into a number of the Center’s projects. Videos are available for viewing at www.purdue.edu/rche.
Patient-Centered Design
Telehome Health
Healthcare Technical Assistance Program
Pathways of Care for Medicaid Patients with Dementia
Surgical Cart Processing
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy
Modeling Patient Flow
3-D Content-Based Image Retrieval
Each segment was produced by Patricia Rochon, Purdue professor of communication, and Han Bin Hong, a junior at Purdue. Special thanks to the experts featured in the segments and the cooperation of St. Vincent Health, Indiana University Cancer Center, and Columbus Regional Hospital.
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Association for Healthcare Technology and Management 5th International Conference
Technology in Healthcare in the 21st Century: Trends, advances, management and challenges
Aug. 17-18, 2006. Chicago, IL. More
Conference tracks will include:
- Trends in state-of-the-art on managing technology in healthcare delivery.
- Advances in the state of knowledge management and applications of technology in healthcare delivery.
- Evaluation of where the industry stands and where it should be going in the management, application, implementation and assessment of clinical and administrative technologies in healthcare delivery.
- Ph.D. Track: designed for doctoral students at all stages of their dissertations who wish to have their dissertation reviewed by experts from academia and industry and to receive constructive comments and suggestions.
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Regenstrief Center plays key role in new state patient safety center
On July 1, operations will begin for the Indiana Patient Safety Center, which brings together the resources and expertise of Purdue's Regenstrief Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana Hospital&Health Association (IHHA), Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana State Medical Association and Health Care Excel, which is Indiana’s federally contracted quality improvement organization.
An Indiana regulation, which took effect Jan. 1, requires state hospitals to report medical errors in more than two dozen categories and make that information available for public review. Data from Indiana's hospitals will be collected during the current calendar year, and the state's first report will be made available to consumers in 2007.
The center, which is patterned after the Federal Aviation Administration's voluntary safety program and the VA National Center for Patient Safety, will analyze data and use other tools to help eliminate delivery-system failures that could cause harm to patients. Full release.
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Purdue scientists and engineers collaborate on cancer care engineering project
Cancer research has been taking place on Purdue's campus for years; more than 25 years ago, Purdue was selected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a site for one of the nation's 60 National Cancer Centers, and last summer, the Oncological Sciences Center (OSC) was established in Purdue's Discovery Park. Today, the OSC collaborates with other Discovery Park centers, including the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, to further innovations in cancer research.
Recently the NCI has become more interested in incorporating engineering techniques into the study of cancer. The OSC's largest effort under way is the Cancer Care Engineering project. The project focuses on colorectal cancer, though the methods used would be applicable to other types of cancer as well.
The Cancer Care Engineering project uses traditional medical oncologists studying patient samples, but adds the expertise of systems engineers and visualization statisticians to create predictive models. The data also can be analyzed by scientists studying genomics, proteomics or metabolomics-even economics. "We're going to war," said Joseph Pekny, founding director and current executive team member of Purdue's Regenstrief Center. "We're going to build a Cancer War Room." Full release.
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