TTT
the three-letter acronym we should all be focusing on
‘Efficiency’ is an evergreen buzzword in healthcare. Improving efficiency is the key sell for many healthcare software platforms, but an increasing number of medical devices are being sold on the promise of unlocking organisational efficiencies too.
The question is does this matter, and if so, how should we be measuring it?
Why is everyone always looking for efficiency?
It sounds good, doesn’t it?
We all like to be ‘efficient’ and we all want more for less. This sentiment is particularly acute in healthcare because populations are growing and ageing.
This is extreme in markets like Japan, but is prevalent in most countries and means healthcare systems are having to treat more people with limited financial and human resources.
The word with so many meanings
I’ve spent more years than I can count in the enteral feeding space. We talk a lot about improving patient safety – something most medical devices focus on.
We also talk about cutting costs by reducing the rate of complications and the number of x-rays – our very own ‘efficiency’ USP. The trouble is, having a product that ‘unlocks efficiencies’ can mean almost anything. It could be cheaper, faster or easier to use. Sometimes it could be all three things.
This can make it difficult for clinicians and managers to identify and source innovations that can directly address the specific problem they have.
The golden metric
A metric that makes a significant difference is reducing the ‘Time To Therapy’ (TTT) and is one we talk about a lot at EAT. We are constantly thinking about innovation(s) that can reduce the time it takes to treat a patient and discharge them from hospital, and inevitably with this time saving also comes a cost saving.
For example, if a patient is awaiting an NG tube placement and it is placed incorrectly as a result of relying on a pH-only measurement, that patient then needs a confirmatory X-ray. This could take hours, or even days, to organise and may not be correct first time – the NHS’ own guidance even states that this confirmation method is costly and often delays feeding and exposes patients to potentially harmful X-rays[1]. And as this process plays out, administration of critical medicines and nutrition are delayed, and some with a strict window of availability, safety, and effectiveness can be compromised.
Every step in this process delays treatment and impacts teams across an organisation, particularly where multi-disciplinary care is required. This consumes time, increasing costs and worsens the patient experience. Keeping patients in hospital longer than is necessary also has social and economic consequences, making it even more important to tackle.
Using a TTT criteria to review products is a useful way of assessing whether an innovation can deliver on several objectives at once and is a stronger marker of efficacy of products within the enteral feeding sector.
Reducing the gap between the first step and the end step in treatment is a win-win for everyone involved.
Follow the patient
To understand the impact that reducing TTT could have on an organisation, you need to look at the whole patient journey and follow it through your organisation.
How many teams does the patient interact with? What does the communication flow look like between these teams? What are the critical moments that determine outcomes?
Medical devices that unclog these ‘choke points’ will deliver the biggest systemwide changes that can make powerful differences. Devices that reduce the TTT often do so by solving key problems at these points, which in our case involves ensuring the correct placement of an NG tube first time.
We all need efficiencies. It is how hospitals assess medical devices against their ability to deliver the best outcomes that matters. TTT is not the only metric, and it doesn’t tackle everything, but it is a strong one.
Focusing on those that cut TTT by reducing the risk of error, speeding workflows up and making it cheaper to deliver care can provide huge, tangible benefits to patients, clinicians and managers.
Mike Shaughnessy is the Chief Commercial Officer at Enteral Access Technologies. He has spent his career working to improve patient outcomes by bringing safe, effective medical devices to market.
