Quality Reports - Ear, Nose and Throat
Clinic Volume - Overall
Why we measure it - Research shows that physicians and hospitals that treat a large number of patients tend to provide better care and have improved outcomes for treatments and procedures.
What this means - Overall more patients and families are choosing our care. The small dip in 2006 reflects a pediatric otolaryngologist vacancy, which we worked to correct. Our outreach clinic in Milwaukee (Greenway Clinic) began in mid-2007 to reduce the number of trips many families need to make to our hospital location.
About the data - This data reflects the number of visits captured in our registration system in years 2005-2008.
Related dimensions of care:
  
What we're doing to provide the best care:
- The ENT team consists of six fellowship-trained pediatric ENT surgeons, which includes one fellowship-trained neurotologist. The team also includes four nurse practitioners, and a group of highly trained audiologists, speech pathologists and nurses. All of our ENT specialists are board certified in Otolaryngology.
- Our specialists see patients at a second location in Milwaukee (Greenway Clinic) to reduce the number of trips many families need to make to our hospital location.
- We are using a LEAN process improvement initiative in the surgery area to optimize our patients' satisfaction. LEAN is an internationally recognized tool to enhance efficiencies and allow health care providers to focus on quality interactions with their patients.
- We perform many outpatient procedures at our Surgicenter location near the Milwaukee hospital, approximately 10 minutes from Children's Hospital. Here, patients may be scheduled sooner and enjoy the convenience of a smaller facility, while being cared for by the same pediatric ENT surgeons and pediatric anesthesiologists they would see at the hospital.
- To improve our clinic flow and patients' experience, we had parent focus groups help redesign our waiting room and teaching room in the ENT Clinic. We also are improving our teaching materials and working to reduce wait times and improve our patient satisfaction scores.
- To improve patient flow and case management in the ENT Clinic, we are a part of many specialty clinics including: Audiology, Audiology Processing Disorders, Cochlear Implant Clinic; Cleft Lip and Palate Clinic; Airway, Digestive and Voice Clinic, Saliva Control, Speech, Tracheostomy/Ventilator Clinic, Vascular Malformations Clinic, FEESST Clinic, and Voice Clinic.
- We help train future pediatric specialists by having sleep medicine and other fellows spend time in our clinic and shadow our otolaryngologists.
- We work closely with the Pain Management team to reduce the pain that often comes with surgery. We also work with parents to make sure they give the full dose of pain medication for as long as it is recommended to keep their child as comfortable as possible after surgery.
Patients/Families:
- Make sure you receive the surgery information packet we mail out to families before your child has surgery and follow all the instructions.
- If you cannot keep a scheduled appointment, please call Central Scheduling at (877) 607-5280 or (414) 607-5280 as soon as possible to reschedule so another child can be seen.
- Arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment so we can gather needed information from you before you see the doctor.
- Check with your insurance provider before your visit to see if a referral is needed to see a specialist at Children's Hospital.
- Bring the name, address, phone and fax numbers of your primary care and/or referring doctor so we can update them appropriately on your care.
- Bring a full list of the medications your child is taking including over-the-counter medicines such as vitamins and supplements.
Referring physicians:
- Forward any pertinent patient documentation, including test results, to the specialty physician's office prior to the patient's visit.
If you have questions about this data or information, e-mail us or call (414) 266-6726.
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