Examining quality of care-how poor information flow can impact on hospital workflow and affect patient outcomes

This paper argues that effective management of patient image data can enhance patient care. It examines the workflow and information flows involved in the search for image based data in a hospital department and the possible consequences for both patients and hospitals where information is not available at the point in the workflow process when it is expected. In the system understudy, an Australian public hospital neurology department, patient data is passed to medical consultants on request. When this data is delayed there is a potential delay in the workflow associated with the patient treatment episode. This paper looks at the negative impacts of interrupted workflow and information flow under a semiautomated process for transferring image data. It argues that where there is a disjuncture between workflow and information flow, decision making can be delayed and the patient service episode extended. This leads to negative impacts for both the individual patient and the system as a whole.