PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Eiko Toda TI - <strong>Process Time Tracking for Reducing Time Wastes in Radiopharmaceutical Delivery</strong> DP - 2020 May 01 TA - Journal of Nuclear Medicine PG - 3109--3109 VI - 61 IP - supplement 1 4099 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/61/supplement_1/3109.short 4100 - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/61/supplement_1/3109.full SO - J Nucl Med2020 May 01; 61 AB - 3109Objectives: This quality improvement study was aimed towards improving efficiency of an in house radiopharmaceutical delivery process by using process time tracking and process improvement interventions. Methods: Toronto General Hospital is a large facility; Radiopharmacy and Nuclear Medicine departments are located on different floors in different wings of this facility. Process time tracking was utilized to analyze the time losses within the daily in house radiopharmaceutical delivery process. The study was conducted using a PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, and Act) design. The process tasks were defined through task observation from time of departure until time of return to the Radiopharmacy. Timings were collected using the lap feature on a smartphone timer. Kanban signals were used to facilitate proposed collaborative interventions. Data was collected 3 times every week to constitute 1 cycle. In total, data from 1 baseline cycle, 2 improvement cycles, and 1improved state cycle were collected. Group discussion occurred at project onset and continued on an ongoing basis between cycles. Results: The average time for delivery of radiopharmaceuticals had increased since Radiopharmacy relocation to a different wing of the hospital. Staff discussed the need for potential solutions to accommodate for the necessary increased time due to distance. The baseline cycle showed that the current delivery process took an average of 23 minutes (n = 3 days). The most time consuming tasks were during elevator transport (4.7 min one way, 9 mins both ways, n = 3 days). However, since this time waste cannot be controlled, the focus for finding efficiencies shifted on the time required for Radiopharmacy staff to prepare the used vial shields for return to the Radiopharmacy and to replace dispensing documentation in Nuclear Medicine (7.7 min, n = 3 days). The revised time cycle showed a marked improvement with an average delivery time of 15 mins (n = 3 days). Conclusions: The use of comprehensive exploration of root causes and mitigations are necessary to establish the process improvement tools, mitigations, and project designs that are most effective for assessing and rectifying a particular issue. Process time tracking is very useful in assessing time wastes in a process stream. The mitigations introduced in this study reduced the time for radiopharmaceutical delivery to 15 minutes (n = 3 days). This efficiency reduced the time strain in the morning radiopharmaceutical production, increased preparedness for the second daily production, and improved troubleshooting response to production issues.