A Quicker and Safer Trip, Door to Door

No one wants a long commute, especially in a wheelchair. But when the Washington D.C. Medical Center opened, a routine roundtrip from the nearby train station took an hour. And since many of the patients arrived by rail, the Adult Medicine UBT stepped in. After figuring the timing for each trip, they ordered new chairs, coordinated with departments, called ahead about labs and meds, and requested a new transporter position. The team cut travel times from 30 minutes to 10.

Here's What Worked

• Coordinating transport times with other departments, and ensuring labs and meds are ready
• Ordering new, wider and more accessible chairs to make it easier to move patients
• Creating a new and dedicated transporter position to faciliate trips

What can your team do to work effectively with other teams? What else could your team do to better understand patients' needs?