Using Patient Flow to Examine Hospital Operations

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Author(s): Renata Konrad (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA), Beste Kucukyazici (Zaragoza Logistics Center, Spain)and Mark Lawley (Purdue University, USA)
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 16
Source title: Management Engineering for Effective Healthcare Delivery: Principles and Applications
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Alexander Kolker (Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, USA)and Pierce Story (GE Healthcare, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-872-9.ch019

Keywords: Health Information Systems / Medical Information Science Reference / Medicine & Healthcare

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Abstract

Adopting an admission-to-discharge patient flow perspective has the potential to improve hospital operations. Flow paths provide insight regarding patient care needs, support resource allocation and capacity planning decisions, and improve the operational performance of the hospitals. Studying patient flow through systems engineering tools and applications can help decision makers assess and improve care delivery. This chapter presents current research and techniques used to describe, measure, and model inpatient flow. We formally define patient flow from an operational standpoint and discuss why it is crucial for operational decisions. Systems engineering techniques, which describe and analyze inpatient flow, are introduced. The chapter concludes with a discussion of emerging approaches to capture patient flow.

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Using Patient Flow to Examine Hospital Operations

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