One-day diagnosis for hepatobiliary and pancreatic lesions: An innovative patient-centered care pathway organization

Abstract

Objective: Reducing the time required for diagnosis is one of the major challenges to improving and accelerating the management of patients. The aim of this work is to describe an organizational innovation in the management of patients with hepatobiliary or pancreatic diseases, and to report the initial results.

Materials and methods: A multidisciplinary and multi-professional working group designed and instituted a patient-centered organizational system that optimizes the investigation of liver and pancreatic diseases, in order to achieve diagnosis in one day. From January 2017 to June 2017, all patients referred for consultation for hepatobiliary or pancreatic pathology were included in this new management pathway. Data were collected prospectively in a standardized form.

Results: Fifty-six patients with hepatobiliary or pancreatic disease were evaluated in the program during dedicated slots over a total of 20 days. Of these, four patients underwent evaluation in the program twice. The average number of patient slots in the program was three per day (range: 1-5). An additional computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was required in 23 (41.7%) of the visits. These imaging studies were performed the same day, including nine patients who required both types of imaging (16.7% of cases). "One-day diagnosis" established an accurate diagnosis by the end of the day in 49 patient encounters (81.7%). Overall assessment of this organization was considered excellent by 46 (83%) of patients.

Conclusion: An organizational innovation has made it possible to effectively diagnose hepatobiliary or pancreatic pathology within one day in the majority of cases, with good patient satisfaction. It is now necessary to evaluate the medico-economic aspect of this organization, and more generally to develop a methodology for multidimensional evaluation of organizational innovations.

Keywords: Care pathways; Diagnosis; Hepatobiliary; Innovation; Organization; Pancreas.