Biggest challenge: "I think it can be a challenge at the PDSA level to focus on just one thing. Sometimes you feel tempted to try and fix everything," labor co-lead Focht said.

Advice to other teams: "Positive feedback was key to the success of this project," said Moore, the team’s management co-lead. "We learned quickly that we had to communicate more regularly. When we initially got results back, we called the medical lab assistants and said, ‘Hey, great job, you guys. You had 100% tracking’ and all of sudden there was a lot more enthusiasm."

What would they do differently next time: "Nothing! We learned from every stumbling block and the important thing was the end result," Focht said.

Side benefits: "I think it improved the lab as a whole because (lab assistants) had time to focus on other aspects of their job," said labor co-lead Reyes-Lopez. "I also think the camaraderie between the regional lab assistants and the medical lab assistants improved because they now share a goal and have a reason to communicate. In the past, they were only calling one another if something was wrong."

Background

When specimens arrived at the regional lab, the transfer lists that accompanied them were often inaccurate. Specimens were regularly left off the lists, which meant regional lab assistants had to take to time to go through every single specimen and re-enter them. That meant lab assistants at the medical and regional offices were duplicating efforts. Using the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle of the Rapid Improvement Method, Denver Regional Lab’s unit-based team devised and implemented a new, more efficient tracking procedure that requires medical office lab assistants to follow a few simple steps. Within a month, 99% of the tracking lists were complete and accurate.

The new steps are:

1. Log only five to 10 specimens at a time
2. When complete, count the specimens and compare it to the count on the transfer list
3. Sign the transfer list
4. Put the transfer list in the bag with the specimens