Improving Patient Flow Using Lean Methodology: an Emergency Medicine Experience

Improving emergency department patient flow

Emergency departments (ED) face significant challenges in delivering high quality and timely patient care on an ever-present background of increasing patient numbers and limited hospital resources. A mismatch between patient demand and the ED's capacity to deliver care often leads to poor patient flow and departmental crowding. These are associated with reduction in the quality of the care deli...

Emergency Medicine specialty May Improve Patient Satisfaction

Improving Emergency Department radiology transportation time: a successful implementation of lean methodology

BACKGROUND Emergency Department overcrowding has become a global problem and a growing safety and quality concern. Radiology and laboratory turnaround time, ED boarding and increased ED visits are some of the factors that contribute to ED overcrowding. Lean methods have been used in the ED to address multiple flow challenges from improving door-to-doctor time to reducing length of stay. The obj...

Improving Emergency Department Patient Flow Through Near Real-Time Analytics

IMPROVING EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT PATIENT FLOW THROUGH NEARREAL-TIME ANALYTICSbySHANSHAN QIUAugust 2014 Advisor: Dr. Ratna Babu ChinnamCo-Advisor: Dr. Alper MuratMajor: Industrial EngineeringDegree: Doctor of Philosophy This dissertation research investigates opportunities for developing effective decisionsupport models that exploit near real-time (NRT) information ...

Lean and the perfect patient experience.

To cite: Blackmore CC, Kaplan GS. BMJ Qual Saf Published Online First: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2016005273 The term Lean means different things to different people. At Virginia Mason, it is applied to the management system based on the systematic identification and elimination of waste, defined as any activity that does not add value from the standpoint of the customer....