Otolaryngology Access Innovation at LBJ Hospital


March 7, 2017

Photo by Dwight C. Andrews/The University of Texas Medical School at Houston Office of Communications
Dr. Ibrahim Alava – Otolaryngology H&N Surgery

Houston – Jeffrey Johnson, MD, 2nd year resident with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, noticed about a year ago that due to a poor access pathway for follow-up from the Emergency Center, there was an unexpected number of non-urgent consults from the LBJ Hospital emergency center that resulted in extra on-call consultations and a poor follow-up rate for patients with otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) issues.

An alternative pathway was devised to redirect such consults from an on-call ENT resident directly to the clinic co-located at LBJ Hospital and staffed by an attending physician. This alternative process has resulted in improved access to care and resident satisfaction.

Ibrahim “Trey” Alava, MD, assistant professor of otolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and chief of otolaryngology at LBJ Hospital, has a role in overseeing the process at the hospital.

“We have had favorable, yet anecdotal, feedback from the ER and the patients,” Alava said.

He also emphasized the team effort it takes to implement a new pathway. Dr. Alava gives credit to the physician’s assistants and nursing staff that are “essential to keeping this model of patient care vibrant and efficient.”

To date, the results are positive. “The average number of completed visits for patients referred from the EC increased by 50% and the no-show rate of said patients decreased by 37%,” Johnson reported in the abstract he submitted to the Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meeting (COSM).

For their efforts, Johnson and Alava have been chosen to give a podium presentation at the COSM in April in San Diego, California.

 

 

Members of the Otolaryngology clinic team located at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital. (From top-left)

Deborah Robinson, PCT
Chantell Hodges, PSRA
Jo-Lawrence Bigcas, MD, Chief Resident
Denyel Henderson, PCT
Ibrahim “Trey” Alava, MD, Chief of Otolaryngology
Daniel Martinez, RN

 

 

 

 

 

Jeffery Johnson, MD, presents alternative pathway at the LBJ Hospital Resident Quality Competition 2017.