A Plan to Streamline Care in Buenos Aires Hospitals Ended Up Causing More Delays
<p>The General Audit of the City detected that the Ministry of Health and some hospitals did not meet half of the objectives of an agreement that sought to shorten the times in the delivery of shifts. There is deficit in the surgical service of the late shift. In the Penna had to effectivizar to seven biochemists, but they lowered four technicians.</p>
A report from the Audit of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) says that "half of what was planned" was not reached in an agreement between the Ministry of Health of the City and some Hospitals to, among other things, reduce the waiting time in The delivery of shifts and extend medical and surgical care in the afternoon.
On average, only 45% of the actions envisioned in the four health care providers, Penna, Piñero, Ramos Mejía and Tornú, were selected as a test to carry out the objectives of the minutes of the double shift in hospitals.
The report, approved this year on data from 2007 and 2008, clarifies that "the greatest difficulties were encountered in meeting the evening schedule, reducing wait times in laboratory shifts for analysis, and in the possibility of Perform more surgeries until 18 ".
The AGCBA explains that the minutes "do not specify which areas should be served until 8pm or on which days of the week". In this way, it adds that in the Tornú none of the basic specialties keeps the clinics open until 8pm and that the general surgery service only attends on Tuesdays until 4pm (the evening shift begins at approximately 1pm hours, although neither were clarified in the agreement).
Even though the Tornú incorporated professionals in rheumatology, otolaryngology and neurology, the Audit noted that they did not attend from Monday to Friday. Also, in Piñero, only three specialties end their attention at 8pm, but not every day.
On the other hand, at the time of the audit, "the turnaround time for Piñero's laboratory was 28 days," despite the fact that before the agreement the delay was "one week." Not only did they fail to reduce the waiting time for laboratory shifts, but they also increased it.
The report adds that in the laboratory of the Piñero they still need to incorpórate "32% of the staff planned, eight refrigerators and 16 armrests."
In addition, in Penna, the Ministry had committed to make "seven biochemists and seven technicians" to reduce waiting times for laboratory shifts. However, the report states that not only were the delay not reduced, but also that the laboratory "suffered a drop in the number of technicians" and that 6 biochemical and 6 technicians were still pending.
Finally, the auditors explain that "the service - in the Penna - is unable to add more staff to the existing because it does not have physical space agreed. They even specify that" in the circulation hall, there are the refrigerator, the staff lockers, is used as a deposit of supplies, materials and archiving of papers".