Reducing Patient Wait Times for Cancer Treatment

Cancer is the most common cause of death in Canada. The rate of cancer incidence is growing due to both population growth and to the aging population. Chemotherapy is one of the most commonly used cancer treatment therapies, along with surgery and radiotherapy.
Sophisticated treatment methods and improved management of side effects are increasing the demand for chemotherapy, and oncology clinics are experiencing higher workloads that can result in laboratory, pharmacy, and chemotherapy administration delays. Reducing
waiting times for the first treatment and waiting times in the clinic for chemotherapy administration are among the highest priorities for quality improvement in outpatient cancer treatment facilities. We are proposing three projects to address the needs of the Jewish
General Hospital’s Segal Cancer Centre: application of lean principles for the chemotherapy process, system analysis and simulation of the oncology clinic, pharmacy, and other associated services, and development of scheduling tools to enable oncology clinic staff to more easily set appointment times that would minimize waiting time and maximize resource utilization.

Faculty Supervisor:

Nadia Bhuiyan

Student:

Partner:

Chronometriq;McGill University (Jewish General Hospital)

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Concordia University

Program: