Speech
Therapists GROSS Duplicative Work!
In the spirit of GROSS, our speech therapists simplified their work process, removing repetitive manual work that duplicated an easier, existing digital solution. Bobbie Jen Lee and Edwina Wang share how the intervention brought newfound joy and purpose to the team.
The Pain
“Since 2017, whenever we see a new patient, we would duplicate patient details into Excel documents on Infopedia after doing the same in the SCM electronic medical records system. The Excel entries were done manually, taking each of us about 12 minutes daily. We used these files to generate lists to help us keep tab of follow-up reviews for our patients.
“As each Excel file was for one ward or room, the records had to be updated whenever a patient is transferred to a new location in SGH. This task of tracking our patients and updating the files fell on our Therapy Assistants, who spent an average of 28 minutes as often as three times a week doing this.
“The Excel files were accessed by multiple users. This meant we often had to wait for a colleague to be done with them before we can work with the documents. And if anyone failed to save or close them properly, the changes were not captured, leaving the records not updated and inaccurate.
“We were pained and frustrated with the cumbersome, repetitive and manual processes, but felt that we didn’t have time to do something about it. When SGH launched the GROSS movement, we decided to come together, committed to put an end to our pain, once and for all!”
The simple solution
The solution turned out to be right before their eyes all these years, in the SCM.
“There is no need to duplicate the entries separately at all! We decided to use existing functions in SCM, like the “Next Review Date” field and “Advanced Visit List” feature to track our patients’ review dates. The system also generates summaries for easy reference,” said Bobbie.
“We didn’t know about these functions in SCM previously because ….”
The change was not easy as everyone had to learn to use the new features. Determined to make it work, the department spent a few months experimenting with Quality Improvement methods to guide the transition. Aiming to create the most efficient and effective system, the Speech Therapists explored as many potential functions in SCM as possible. They also sought advice from IT, Medical Informatics and Synapxe domain experts.
From 10 steps …
… to just 3.
The Result
And the result? No more Excel chaos! Tracking is now done in real-time on SCM after every patient visit. This put an end to the tedious manual tracking, eliminating missed entries and inaccuracies in the database.
The team has been re-energised by the new-found efficiency and improvement.
“We can now dedicate more meaningful time to our patients, dive into exciting new projects or focus on research. Our Therapist Assistants can better devote themselves to interacting with patients or prepare materials or assist our patients with appointment scheduling matters.
Parting cheer from Speech Therapy Department to everyone – “We Dare2GROSS because short-term effort for long-term efficiency is worth it!”
Have a GROSS idea or completed a GROSS project? Submit it
here by 1 July, 2024 at 5pm for your chance to win the much-coveted GROSS Golden Trashcan Award this year! Learn more about our SGH GROSS Movement/ GROSS Awards 2024 on
www.sgh.com.sg/GROSS.
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