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In the spring of 2007, Dr. Kishore Visvanathan and his colleagues at Saskatoon Urology
Associates implemented a strategy called Advanced Access in their practice. Their
goal was to reduce the time patients waited for a specialist consultation. As the
project progressed, their efforts widened to embrace a broader strategy known as
Clinical Practice Redesign. They now look at all areas of their practice to improve efficiency and service
for their patients.
Read all about the adventures of Kishore and his colleagues - their challenges and
their victories, their obstacles and their "aha's" - as they work to drive down their
backlog and push up the satisfaction of patients, referring physicians, and their
own team.
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Blessing in Disguise
Our fridge conked out 2 weeks ago. Not the main kitchen fridge, mind you; it was
the basement auxiliary fridge that died. So, it wasn't an absolute crisis, but it
has made us rethink some of our habits.
The luxury of having a 2nd fridge gives us extra food-storage capacity. But that
extra capacity has made us a little careless. Here's what's changed at our house
over the last 2 weeks:
We actively consider what's in the fridge. Usually, leftovers would get pushed to
the back of the shelf and, unless someone was specifically looking for that item,
would often be discovered weeks later (inedible!). We're wasting less food.
I pack leftovers in my lunch more frequently. My intent is to make room in the fridge,
but I've discovered that it also saves time when I'm putting a lunch together. Putting
leftovers in a container is usually quicker than making a sandwich. It saves even
more time if I remember to put some leftovers directly into a small container when
I'm cleaning up after supper.
There have been some problems:
We have to make more frequent trips to the grocery store. My kids go through a lot
of milk, and we would usually keep 2 or 3 jugs in the basement fridge. Now, we'll
make an extra milk run in the middle of the week, rather than waiting for the weekly
grocery trip.
Our immediate reaction to the loss of our extra fridge was to hurry out and buy a
replacement. But, now we're not sure if we need to do that. With our new culture
of "active fridge management," we've discovered that we're usually not struggling
to find space.
One thing is for certain: If these changes had not been forced on us - by the demise
of the basement fridge - we would never have discovered our ability to manage our
household with one fridge. If, with 2 functioning fridges in the house, either my
wife or I had suggested to the other that we make these changes, I'm sure we wouldn't
have any motivation to do so.
With the luxury of excess capacity, there's no burning platform to drive change.
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Last month, I had the privilege of addressing the University of Saskatchewan College
of Medicine's incoming class. You can guess what my one-track mind picked as the
theme for my speech.
In response to the perceived shortage of physicians in the province, the U of S College
of Medicine is in the midst of an aggressive expansion of student enrollment. The
speakers who preceded me commented on this initiative, and how having more physicians
would remedy access problems. How ironic that I then stood up to tout the alternate
solution, that is, using Clinical Practice Redesign/Advanced Access as a way to squeeze
more juice out of current resources!
It seems it's easier to pay for more capacity. Goodbye, burning platform.
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