Abstracts

Rationale: To evaluate the value of a nurse coordinator in an epilepsy program by evaluating efficiency and productivity.Methods: A retrospective chart study over a 10 year span from 2004 to 2014, evaluating 336 surgical epilepsy patients. The date of a patient’s initial evaluation was subtracted from the date of outpatient testing (PET and Wada) completion to evaluate lag times within this process. The time span from the date of initial evaluation to the date of surgery was also calculated to assess overall time required to complete the program. The total number of surgical cases was tabulated annually in order to evaluate the program’s productivity over the past 10 years.Results: Program efficiency improved by implementing a nurse coordinator which was shown by the decrease in patient processing times. The interval from phase I completion to outpatient test completion reduced from 4 months for PET CT and 5 months for Wada to 2 months for both tests after the nurse started in 2013. The overall time required for a patient to complete surgery after their initial evaluation dropped from 8 months for resection patients, 5 months for SEEG placement patients and 10 months for grid placement patients to 2 months for straight resection patients, 3 months for SEEG placement patients and 4 months for grid placement patients. The annual volume of adult craniotomies increased in 2013 from 48 to 60, a 20% growth and from 60 to 82 in 2014, which is a 27% growth. The volume of pediatric craniotomies grew from 13 to 19 in 2013, which is a 32% increase and continued to rise in 2014.Conclusions: By implementing a nurse coordinator, The Texas Comprehensive Program grew simultaneously in both productivity and efficiency. As the program continues to evolve and improve a greater total of patients will have access to care and be able to be diagnosed and treated proficiently.