Fast track centres aim to cut waiting times

A renal colic fast track pathway to improve waiting times and outcomes for patients presenting to the emergency department

INTRODUCTION Renal colic is commonly encountered in the emergency department (ED). We validated a fast track renal colic (FTRC) initiative to decrease patient waiting times and streamline patient flow. METHOD The FTRC pathway was devised according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical summary criteria for the management of patients with suspected renal colic. ED tr...

Waiting time paradox applied to transient times

When working with chaotic systems, the average length of a transient phase before a particular event occurs is often required. Examples of this include the transient phase before a control mechanism can be activated @1,2# or the length of a chaotic transient after a crisis has occurred @3#. In both cases, the transient occurs before iterates fall into a small region. For controlling chaos, this...

queuing theory to decrease waiting times in emergency department

Predicting joint replacement waiting times.

Currently, the median waiting time for total hip and knee replacement in Ontario is greater than 6 months. Waiting longer than 6 months is not recommended and may result in lower post-operative benefits. We developed a simulation model to estimate the proportion of patients who would receive surgery within the recommended waiting time for surgery over a 10-year period considering a wide range o...

Re-aim blame for NIH's hard times.

ANXIETY AND ANGER ARE RIFE AMONG THE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY OVER THE dwindling fortunes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The anxiety is justified: Success rates for grant applications have fallen, on average, from over 30% in 2003 to under 20% (and to even less at some Institutes), and the Bush administration’s budget projections imply further declines. But the anger is anothe...