When healthcare staffing shortages strain resources and limit care access, both clinical staff and patients feel the pain.
This was true at Lee Health Cancer Institute, which delivers life-saving services and treatments to communities in southwest Florida.
To address these challenges at the Regional Cancer Center in Fort Myers and Bonita Health Center in Estero, the organization turned to AI-powered technology.
During a recent Becker's Healthcare webinar sponsored by LeanTaaS, Valeria Campbell, MSN, RN, director of clinical services and clinical research, Regional Cancer Center, Lee Health Cancer Institute, shared how patient assignment technology is streamlining operations, eliminating manual staffing practices and generating high nurse satisfaction through balanced assignments.
Four key takeaways were:
- Unpredictable patient schedules create operational and nursing challenges. At Lee Health's infusion centers in Fort Myers and Estero, appointment start times were concentrated during the morning hours, resulting in bottlenecks for nurses and the pharmacy. Staff productivity was low. In addition, nurses often missed lunches as they struggled to stay on top of patient flow.
This was all very discouraging, since massive numbers of hours were spent pre-assigning patients to nurses. "My charge nurse often spent her entire shift balancing the next day's schedule," Ms. Campbell said. "Then something would change and she'd have to start again." - iQueue for Infusion Centers balances patient schedules and optimizes resource utilization. In January 2024, Lee Health Cancer Institute went live with iQueue for Infusion Centers' Patient Assignment tool. Although nurses were initially reluctant to shift to the tool’s nurse pull model for patient assignments, after a five-day trial, they were enthusiastic converts.
"The feedback was an overwhelming 'yes.' It worked, they liked it and it made their day much better," Ms. Campbell said. Instead of taking patients at a particular time, nurses could pull patients when they were ready. This enabled them to balance their workday. They didn't feel rushed, they could provide more patient care and team camaraderie grew. - Nursing leadership now has clear visibility into patient flow and staff productivity. In iQueue, directors, supervisors and charge nurses can see the day in real time from their computers. "When a patient checks in, I can see how long they've been waiting," Ms. Campbell said. "iQueue provides me and the rest of the team with information we were never able to get before."
Lee Health Cancer Institute relies heavily on the Nurse Planning tool which shows how many patients and nurses are scheduled for the next day. - AI-powered technology has transformed infusion center operations. Lee Health Cancer Institute has been pleased with the results from iQueue for Infusion Centers. Between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024:
- Total completed appointments increased 2.9%.
- No shows/same day cancellations decreased 1.2%.
- Infusion wait times were less than five minutes.
Also, a survey of nurses showed 100% nursing satisfaction, a 10% reduction in workload imbalance and an 11% improvement in staffing productivity.
"I wasn't sure whether iQueue for Infusion Centers would impact patient satisfaction, but patients saw the difference and it definitely had a positive effect," Ms. Campbell said. "In addition, nurses are happier because they control their own assignments."
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