Leveling the Workload for Radiologists in Diagnostic Mammography: Application of Lean Principles and Heijunka.

To facilitate the delivery of accurate and timely care to patients in complex environments, process improvement methodologies such as Lean can be very effective. Lean is a quality improvement methodology that seeks to add value for patients and employees by continuously improving processes and eliminating waste. At our institution, Lean principles were applied to improve efficiency and minimize waste in the diagnostic breast imaging reading room.

Improving Root Cause Analysis of Patient Safety Events in Radiology.

Patient safety events occur in health care, and root cause analysis (RCA) meetings held after these incidents often reveal valuable insights into systemic barriers between optimal processes or stated policies and actual practice, providing critical opportunities for improvement. The patient safety team that facilitates RCA meetings in the radiology department at the authors' institution received feedback suggesting dissatisfaction with the RCA process. The team followed a structured process improvement framework to analyze the root causes of this dissatisfaction and create a better system.

Editorial Commentary: More Evidence That Some Sports Are Harder on Hips Than Others.

Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is generally agreed to be one of the main causes of hip osteoarthritis later in life. There is a strong association between certain sports and hip arthroscopy with labral repair and osteochondroplasty for FAI. Some sports, such as ice hockey, soccer, and basketball, place substantial mechanical demands on the hip, thus causing more hip injuries in athletes who participate in them.

Improving Efficiency Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing Methodology.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to increase efficiency in MR enterography using a time-driven activity-based costing methodology.

Methods: In February 2015, a multidisciplinary team was formed to identify the personnel, equipment, space, and supply costs of providing outpatient MR enterography. The team mapped the current state, completed observations, performed timings, and calculated costs associated with each element of the process.