Reducing procedure time
in image-guided therapy with Philips Azurion
By Philips editorial team ∙ Aug 01, 2018 ∙ 2 min read
Faced with increasingly complex procedures and unpredictable demand, St. Antonius Hospital in the Netherlands looked for ways to improve clinical and operational efficiency in its interventional vascular labs.
The hospital was among the first in the world to install Philips Azurion, the next-generation image guided-therapy platform.
An independently verified study shows that St. Antonius Hospital has achieved significant improvements in workflow with the new interventional lab. The hospital is now able to treat 1 more patient per day, bringing the current average to 6 to 8 patients per day - and allowing them to help hundreds more patients each year.
Case study at a glance
Partner
St. Antonius Hospital, the Netherlands
Challenge
Improve operational and clinical efficiency while maintaining high quality care and staff satisfaction.
Results
・ 12% reduction in patient preparation time
・ 17% reduction in procedure time
・ 28% reduction on post-procedure lab time
The challenge
Like many hospitals around the world, St. Antonius Hospital faces an unpredictable demand for increasingly complex cardiovascular procedures, which puts a pressure on patient waiting times. This spurred the need for increased operational and clinical efficiency in its interventional labs.
In 2015, when one of their existing labs was in need of replacement, the hospital went looking for a solution that would support their long-term interventional strategy. The goal was to speed up workflows and maintain an excellent quality of care, while driving staff and patient satisfaction at the same time.
The solution
St. Antonius Hospital turned to Philips as a partner that could help them reimagine the interventional lab. The hospital was among the first in the world to install Philips Azurion, the next-generation platform for image-guided therapy. Developed in close collaboration with clinicians, the platform supports a broad range of interventional procedures.
“As the use of image-guided therapies continues to rise, new systems need to be easy and intuitive to use so clinicians can quickly and efficiently move through procedures,” says Marco van Strijen, MD, Interventional Radiologist at St. Antonius Hospital.
“With Azurion, we were able to change our workflow in such a way that we now can treat more patients in a single day, with no compromise to patient safety or quality of care.”
St. Antonius Hospital and Philips also worked together to identify opportunities for even more efficient use of the lab, based on an analysis of the facility layout and procedural data.
The results
St. Antonius Hospital participated in a comprehensive two-year study into the impact of the Azurion platform and its clinical workflow on their interventional vascular department.
The study, which was independently verified* and published in November 2017, reveals that clinicians’ use of Azurion resulted in significant time savings, including a 17% reduction of the average interventional procedure time, a 12% reduction of in-lab patient preparation time, and a 28% reduction of post procedure lab time.
Overall, these improvements will give St. Antonius Hospital the ability to treat one more patient per day on an average of 6 to 8 patients per day – to help hundreds more patients each year. The time savings also resulted in a 25% reduction in planned cases finishing late, generating savings on overtime expense and contributing to increased employee satisfaction.
With Philips Azurion, we now have the ability to treat one more patient a day, with no compromise to patient safety or quality of care.
