Keywords

chemotherapy administration, outpatient care delivery, patient safety, quality improvement

Authors

1. Gruber, Marcia MSN, MS, RN
2. Smith, Debra RN
3. O'Neal, Charnese MA
4. Hennessy, Kelli BS
5. Therrien, Melissa BA

Abstract

Nurses in chemotherapy administration settings are constantly challenged to increase utilization while maintaining patient safety. A performance improvement project was carried out to identify barriers to patient throughput and opportunities to improve utilization while not compromising patient safety. We found ways to safely increase the number of patients from 92 to 108 per day; however, patient tardiness and staff vacancies had a negative impact on patient wait times and nursing staff overtime.