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Increasing demand for care from a limited number of gastroenterologists has created longer wait times for endoscopic services. In response, investigators in Ireland have used a time-and-motion study to identify means of improving the efficiency of endoscopic practices.
The investigators observed 400 consecutive endoscopic procedures at a tertiary care teaching hospital, documenting the time required for each component of the procedures. They used this data to identify opportunities to improve the practice's efficiency quotient (EQ; duration of endoscopic procedure + duration of postprocedure paperwork/total time patient is in the endoscopy suite + interval between successive patients entering the suite).
According to the study's findings, cha…