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PRACTICE POINTER
Process mapping the patient journey through
health care: an introduction
Timothy M Trebble,1 Navjyot Hansi,1 Theresa Hydes,1 Melissa A Smith,2 Marc Baker3
1
Department of Gastroenterology, This paper provides a practical framework Box 2 | The eight types of waste in health care13
Portsmouth Hospitals Trust,
Portsmouth PO6 3LY for reconfiguring the patient’s journey in Defects—Drug prescription errors; incomplete surgical
hospital from the patient’s perspective
2
Department of Gastroenterology, equipment
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS
Foundation Trust, London
Overproduction—Inappropriate scheduling
Healthcare process mapping is a new and important form
3
Lean Enterprise Academy, Transportation—Distance between related departments
of clinical audit that examines how we manage the patient
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire Waiting—By patients or staff
Correspondence to: T M Trebble journey, using the patient’s perspective to identify prob‑
Inventory—Excess stores, that expire
tim.trebble@porthosp.nhs.uk lems and suggest improvements.1 2 We outline the steps
involved in mapping the patient’s journey, as we believe Motion—Poor ergonomics
Cite this as: BMJ 2010;341:c4078 Overprocessing—A sledgehammer to crack a nut
doi: 10.1136/bmj.c4078
that a basic understanding of this versatile and simple tech‑
nique, and when and how to use it, is valuable to clinicians Human potential—Not making the most of staff skills
who are developing clinical services.
What information does process mapping provide and healthcare systems.7‑9 The NHS Institute for Innovation
what is it used for? and Improvement proposes a range of practical benefits
Process mapping allows us to “see” and understand the using this approach (box 1).6
patient’s experience3 by separating the management of a Several management systems are available to support
specific condition or treatment into a series of consecu‑ process mapping and pathway redesign.10 11 A common
tive events or steps (activities, interventions, or staff inter technique, derived originally from the Japanese car maker
actions, for example). The sequence of these steps between Toyota, is known as lean thinking transformation.3 12 This
two points (from admission to the accident and emergency considers each step in a patient pathway in terms of the
department to discharge from the ward) can be viewed as relative contribution towards the patient’s outcome, taken
a patient pathway or process of care.4 from the patient’s perspective: it improves the patient’s
Improving the patient pathway involves the coordination health, wellbeing, and experience (value adding) or it does
of multidisciplinary practice, aiming to maximise clinical not (non-value or “waste”) (box 2).14‑16
efficacy and efficiency by eliminating ineffective and unnec‑ Process mapping can be used to identify and character‑
essary care.5 The data provided by process mapping can ise value and non-value steps in the patient pathway (also
be used to redesign the patient pathway4 6 to improve the known as value stream mapping). Using lean thinking
quality or efficiency of clinical management and to alter the transformation to redesign the pathway aims to enhance
focus of care towards activities most valued by the patient. the contribution of value steps and remove non-value
Process mapping has shown clinical benefit across steps.17 In most processes, non-value steps account for nine
a variety of specialties, multidisciplinary teams, and times more effort than steps that add value.18
Reviewing the patient journey is always beneficial, and
Box 1 | Benefits of process mapping6 therefore a process mapping exercise can be undertaken
• A starting point for an improvement project specific for at any time. However, common indications include a need
your own place of work to improve patients’ satisfaction or quality or financial
bmj.com archive • Creating a culture of ownership, responsibility and aspects of a particular clinical service.
Previous articles in this accountability for your team
series • Illustrates a patient pathway or process, understanding it How to organise a process mapping exercise
ЖЖ Practical management from a patient’s perspective Process mapping requires a planned approach, as even
of coagulopathy • An aid to plan changes more effectively apparently straightforward patient journeys can be com‑
associated with warfarin • Collecting ideas, often from staff who understand the plex, with many interdependent steps. 4 A process mapping
(BMJ 2010;340:c1813) system but who rarely contribute to change exercise should be an enjoyable and creative experience for
ЖЖ Using the new UK- • An interactive event that engages staff staff. In common with other audit techniques, it must avoid
• An end product (a process map) that is easy to being confrontational or judgmental or used to “name,
WHO growth charts (BMJ
understand and highly visual
2010;340:c1140) shame, and blame.”8 19
Determine condition or intervention requiring pathway redesign Box 3 | How to analyse a process map6
How many steps are involved?
Agree aims of project and identify evidence base How many staff-staff interactions (handoffs)?
What is the time for each step and between each step?
Agree team member roles, methods, time frame, locations What is the total time between start and finish (lead time)?
When does a patient join a queue, and is it a regular
Data collection; walk the journey; pathway observation occurrence?
How many non-value steps are there?
Draw map, collect missing data, analysis What do patients complain about?
What are the problems for staff?
Pathway resdesign develop protocol
Data collection
Implement pathway; repeat process mapping exercise
Data collection should include information on each step
under routine clinical circumstances in the usual clinical
Fig 1 | Steps involved in a process mapping exercise
environment. Information is needed on waiting episodes
Preparation and planning and bottlenecks (any step within the patient pathway
A good first step is to form a team of four or five key staff, that slows the overall rate of a patient’s progress, nor‑
ideally including a member with previous experience of mally through reduced capacity or availability20). Using
lean thinking transformation. The group should decide on estimates of minimum and maximum time for each step
a plan for the project and its scope; this can be visualised reduces the influence of day to day variations that may
by using a flow diagram (fig 1). Producing a rough initial skew the data. Limiting the number of steps (to below 60)
draft of the patient journey can be useful for providing an aids subsequent analysis.
overview of the exercise. The techniques used for data collection (table 1) each
The medical literature or questionnaire studies of have advantages and disadvantages; a combination of
patients’ expectations and outcomes should be reviewed approaches can be applied, contributing different quali‑
to identify value adding steps involved in the manage‑ tative or quantitative information. The commonly used
ment of the clinical condition or intervention from the technique of walking the patient journey includes inter‑
patient’s perspective.1 3 views with patients and staff and direct observation of
the patient journey and clinical environment. It allows
Table 1 | Data collection in process mapping the investigator to “see” the patient journey at first hand.
Method Description Advantages Disadvantages Involving junior (or student) doctors or nurses as inter‑
Multi-disciplinary Single or short series of Obtains results in a Depends on attendees’ knowledge viewers may increase the openness of opinions from staff,
meeting6 meetings of representative defined time; allows of patient journey; absence of direct and time needed for data collection can be reduced by
staff, in a non-clinical interaction between staff observation
environment6 involved in the process
allotting members of the team to investigate different
Walking the Following the normal route Allows a realistic Effectiveness is influenced by stages in the patient’s journey.
journey16 of the patient journey; one- assessment of the availability of staff time and
to-one patient and staff patient’s journey, openness of staff and patient’s Mapping the information
interviews in the clinical particularly if repeated; responses
environment direct observation The process map should comprehensively represent the
Direct observation Following a patient’s Provides information from Time consuming and influenced patient journey. It is common practice to draw the map
of patient journey journey in real time with patient’s perspective on by day to day variations in clinical by hand onto paper (often several metres long), either
direct observation and patient journey environments and patient selection directly or on repositionable notes (fig 2).
informal interviews
Patient’s Patients record their Represents patient’s Depends on patient selection and
Information relating to the steps or representing move‑
self reported experience of the journey experience from patient’s expectations (elderly, sick, frail, or ment of information (request forms, results, etc) can be
experience in real time perspective illiterate patients may be missed) added. It is useful to obtain any missing information at
this stage, either from staff within the meeting or by revis‑
iting the clinical environment.
A PATIENT’S JOURNEY
Recovering from severe brain injury
D J B Thomas, Martin Skelton-Robinson
Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust, In May 2008 Dai Thomas had a road told on my admission that I might die, and subsequently
Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3NN that I would never again be able to care for myself. I
Correspondence to: D J B Thomas accident resulting in severe brain was transferred to the rehabilitation ward in the hospi‑
drdthomas678@btinternet.com injury. This is the record of his thoughts tal where I had worked as a consultant physician. As a
Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c839 and feelings during rehabilitation, patient I had excellent treatment, and the kindness and
doi: 10.1136/bmj.c839 concern of the staff were most striking.
accompanied by the perspective of the I remained amnesic for 10 weeks. I was unaware of my
This is one of a series of
occasional articles by patients neuropsychologist who treated him clinical condition. My only memories from this period
about their experiences that were of a fabricated world I had created, populated by
offer lessons to doctors. The I was involved in a serious road traffic accident in May family members and in-laws. It was semi-dark, and I
BMJ welcomes contributions to
the series. Please contact Peter 2008. I was amnesic after the accident and have no could not contact anyone directly—with the exception of
Lapsley (plapsley@bmj.com) for memory of it. I am told that a stag jumped into my open the luminescent Crossie, an imaginary young daughter
guidance. top Lotus 7 sports car in Epping Forest. I lost control of who was living several miles away from home. I wanted
the car, hit a tree at speed, and sustained a severe brain her to come back to live with me. Some have suggested
injury. It took the fire brigade an hour and a half to cut that she may have represented the cross of Christianity
me out of the car, and paramedics recorded my Glasgow or a “cross” I had to bear. During the amnesic period I
Coma Scale score as 9. spoke, sometimes appropriately, but I have no memory
At the local accident and emergency department I was of this. However my wife says she saw glimpses of my
found to have numerous soft tissue injuries and a frac‑ previous self.
tured right mandible, maxilla, and clavicle. A magnetic
resonance imaging scan of my brain showed bilateral The fog clears
frontal and temporal lobe contusions. I had a grand The fabricated world was all I had, and it seemed very
mal seizure. I was transferred to a neurosurgical unit real. As my memory started to return I realised that
and spent several days in intensive care. My family were all the family members it featured were dead and that
EASILY MISSED?
Acromegaly
Raghava Reddy,1 Sally Hope,2 John Wass1
1
Department of Endocrinology, Acromegaly is a clinical disorder of adults characterised
HOW COMMON IS THIS CONDITION?
Oxford Centre of Diabetes, by changes in the face and extremities caused by excess
Endocrinology & Metabolism, growth hormone secretion. Growth hormone excess that Acromegaly has an estimated prevalence of around 60
Churchill Hospital, Oxford per million and an annual incidence of 3-4 per million.2
2 occurs before fusion of the epiphyseal growth plates in
Woodstock General Practice,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire a child or adolescent is called pituitary gigantism. In More recently a higher prevalence of about 130 per
Correspondence to: J A H Wass adults the excess growth hormone secretion is usually million has been suggested by a study in Belgium with
john.wass@noc.nhs.uk caused by a benign growth hormone secreting pituitary more active surveillance for pituitary adenomas.3 This
adenoma,1 though it may occasionally (in about 15% of figure is confirmed by our own study in Oxfordshire.4
Cite this as: BMJ 2010;341:c4189
doi: 10.1136/bmj.c4189 cases) be part of a genetic condition, such as familial iso‑ The condition affects all races and both sexes, and the
lated pituitary adenoma, multiple endocrine neoplasia mean age at diagnosis is 40-45 years. However, larger,
This is a series of occasional
type 1, or McCune-Albright syndrome. more aggressive tumours secreting growth hormone tend to
articles highlighting conditions
that may be more common than present in younger patients. Patients with a family history of
many doctors realise or may be Why is it missed? pituitary adenomas also present at an earlier age.
missed at first presentation. The diagnosis of acromegaly is often missed because the
The series advisers are Anthony
Harnden, university lecturer in condition develops slowly and insidiously, and it often diagnosis also leads to greater skeletal disfigurement,
general practice, Department of has clinical features which are common in the general as well as systemic manifestations.
Primary Health Care, University population, such as tiredness and musculoskeletal pain.
of Oxford, and Richard Lehman,
general practitioner, Banbury. If The mean time to diagnosis is eight years, with a range How is it diagnosed?
you would like to suggest a topic of 6-10 years.5 Studies have reported a high prevalence Clinical manifestations
for this series please email us of certain conditions in patients with acromegaly6 (see Initial presentation may be with non-specific symptoms
(easilymissed.bmj@bmjgroup.
com). box), which may confuse the clinical picture as these too such as tiredness, sweating, and musculoskeletal pain.
are common conditions in general practice. Some degree of suspicion of acromegaly is required
when certain conditions are diagnosed (box), especially
Why does this matter? against a background history of a change in facial fea‑
Case series of patients with uncontrolled acromegaly tures or other acromegalic changes—for example, of the
suggest that their life expectancy averages 10 years hands. Excess growth hormone stimulates increased
less than that of the normal population.7 Suppression hepatic secretion of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-
of growth hormone below 1.67 µg/l with treatment has 1), which causes most of the clinical manifestations of
been shown to improve mortality, and growth hormone
levels less than 1 µg/l are associated with a normal life
expectancy.8 The overall mortality of untreated disease Complications of untreated acromegaly
is about twice normal,8 and death is usually caused by The following common conditions may warrant checking
cardiovascular or respiratory disease or cancer. The for acromegaly if other clinical features suggest it, or may
increase in mortality is influenced by the duration of be screened for once acromegaly is diagnosed:
symptoms before the diagnosis, the duration of the dis‑ • Respiratory: sleep apnoea (20-80%, presenting with
ease, older age, and the presence of complications at daytime somnolence, and due to anatomical changes
diagnosis.9 Thus, the diagnosis and control of growth affecting craniofacial bones, soft tissues, respiratory
hormone hypersecretion, hypertension, and heart mucosa, cartilage and muscles)
disease may improve the mortality rates. A delay in • Cardiovascular: hypertension (40%, pathogenesis
unclear but growth hormone causes salt retention),
cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, heart failure
CASE SCENARIO
• Metabolic: diabetes mellitus (19-56%, due to increased
A 44 year old woman, known to have type 2 diabetes insulin resistance), lipid disturbances, hypercalciuria
mellitus, presented with backache and a six month
history of sweating, increased sleepiness, more recent • Musculoskeletal: arthropathy (20-50%, due to
degenerative osteoarthritis of back and weight-bearing
headache, and decreased vision. She attributed her tight
joints), carpal tunnel syndrome (20-52%, due to
rings and numbness in the hands to arthritis. In view of
oedema of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel and
the latter symptoms and her suggestive facial features,
soft tissue growth)
her general practitioner thought that acromegaly was a
possibility, and requested growth hormone and insulin- Other conditions to consider screening for on diagnosis of
like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) to be measured. Both tests acromegaly:
showed raised values, so she referred the patient to • Gastrointestinal: colonic polyps, colorectal cancer
an endocrine centre for further investigation, and the • Possibly increased risk of other malignancies such as
diagnosis was confirmed. lung, thyroid, breast, etc