Please Note: The agenda may change slightly based on impending past participant feedback, but all content will be covered.

Monday, July 21, 2008

8:00 AM - 8:30 AM

Welcome, Introductions, and Table Discussion

Kirk Jensen, MD, MBA, Roger Resar, MD and Kevin Nolan, MA

This session will introduce attendees to a framework for improving patient flow. Attendees will be asked in an interactive session to share their current work to improve hospital flow in their organizations.

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM

Hospital Flow as a Strategic Initiative

Kirk Jensen and Kevin Nolan

In order to successfully improve hospital-wide patient flow, improving flow must be a key priority in the organization. This session will discuss a strategic execution framework including sponsorship, oversight, and resources and responsibilities. Attendees will be asked to address the current relationship between patient flow and their organization’s strategic priorities. 

Objective: Describe the framework and resources for implementing a flow execution strategy.

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Key Strategies for Improving Hospital Flow

Kirk Jensen

Patients and providers alike regard waits, delays, and cancellations as a normal part of getting and giving care. However, patient safety, hospital revenue, staff satisfaction, and patient satisfaction are all negatively affected when patients, information, and materials do not move through hospitals efficiently. This session will introduce the following key strategies for improving patient flow: demand and capacity management, real-time monitoring of patient flow, forecasting, queuing theory, the theory of constraints, managing variation, appreciation of a system.

Objective: Describe several key strategies for improving patient flow.

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Break

10:30 AM - 11:15 AM

Understanding Performance of Hospital-wide Patient Flow

Kevin Nolan and Roger Resar

The common solution for busy units is simply adding beds. During this session, several tools will be introduced that will help identify wasted capacity and measure hospital performance. This session will also summarize useful metrics to gauge the impact of hospital flow improvement strategies. Faculty will lead a discussion on designing realistic aims and targets in your organization’s flow improvement efforts.

Objectives:

• Identify wasted capacity.
• Measure impact of hospital flow improvement strategies.
• Define realistic aims for your organization’s flow improvement efforts.

11:15 AM - 12:00 PM        

Your Patient Placement System

Roger Resar

Participants will discuss (and report out on) elements of their current patient placement system. A checklist will be introduced that can be used in the afternoon session to organize specific ideas for improvement.

Objectives:

• Understand current patient placement process and potential areas for improvement.
• Understand checklist to identify and document specific ideas for improvement.

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 PM - 4:45 PM

Real-Time Demand Capacity Management - Roger Resar

1. Introduction to Real-Time Demand Capacity Management

This session will lay the groundwork for designing a predictive tool for admissions and discharges which, when applied at a system level, will allow the redistribution of resources on a daily basis to maximize hospital throughput. Key predictions will involve short-term admissions and discharges connected to a daily unit status. Attendees will develop an understanding of how to achieve a useful level of reliability in your design, and faculty             will use examples of organizations currently employing these designs. The use of these predictions will be tied to a simple strategy for identifying bottlenecks and developing strategies to improve hospital flow. Lastly, the session will introduce the concept of “sequencing” in design.

Objectives:

• Design a predictive tool that is used for real-time demand-capacity management.
• Develop an understanding of how to achieve a useful level of reliability in designing a predictive tool.
• Use the predictive tool to identify bottlenecks and develop strategies to improve flow.
• Describe the concept of “sequencing” in design.

Summarize the main components of real-time demand capacity management.

2. Focusing on Bottlenecks - Kirk Jensen

In order to improve hospital flow, organizations must identify, challenge and intensely manage system constraints. Efforts spent improving a non-critical bottleneck will not improve the overall performance of a system. This session will review the concept of a bottleneck and its connection to real time demand capacity management.

Objective: Describe the concept of a bottleneck and its connection to real-time demand capacity management.

3. Making Improvements - Kevin Nolan 

Every system is perfectly designed to get exactly the results it gets. Therefore, in order to improve performance, organizations need to redesign their systems and processes. This session will introduce methods for redesign and will then apply them to the redesign of a Real-Time Demand Capacity Management System.

Objective: Apply methods for redesign to a real-time demand capacity management system.                      

4. Case Discussion – Deb Kaczynski, MS

During this session, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a discussion based on one hospital’s success. Attendees will also have time to reflect on the sequence of steps used by the hospital to redesign their Real-Time Demand Capacity Management System.

Objective: Examine the sequence of steps used by the case study hospital to redesign their real-time demand capacity management system.

4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Networking Cocktail Reception

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

7:00 AM - 8:00 AM

Continental Breakfast

8:00 AM - 8:30 AM

Introduction to Day 2

Kirk Jensen, Deb Kaczynski, Kevin Nolan, Roger Resar

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Kirk Jensen

Acute care settings are plagued with waits, delays, and diversions and hospitals are increasingly challenged to address these problems. This session outlines and defines key challenges, opportunities, and constraints within the emergency department. Key strategies and successful approaches, drawn from operations and service management, to breaking down typical barriers and optimizing patient flow will be shared.   

Objective: Describe several successful strategies that can be used to address key challenges and constraints within the emergency department.

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Break

10:30 AM - 11:15 AM

Improving Flow in Surgery

Marilyn Rudolph RN, BSN, MBA

Most hospitals experience daily challenges in effectively managing perioperative flow. This session will focus on strategies and tactics that describe how to improve efficiencies and throughput in the perioperative setting. After this session participants will be able to describe the relationship of surgery and perioperative efficiencies to overall patient flow and identify tips for gaining efficiencies in surgery to facilitate patient flow.

Objective: Describe several successful strategies that can be used to address key challenges and constraints within the emergency department.

11:15 AM - 12:00 PM

Improving Discharges and Transitions

Roger Resar

This session will focus on poorly designed discharges and transitions either within the hospital or to locations outside the hospital. The identification of bottlenecks defined by key flow metrics on identified “bad” days will be used to determine these effects. The session will include the concepts of discharge appointments and transition slots in the design for these discharge and transition strategies. 

Objective: Apply strategies to identify and mitigate bottlenecks that occur during discharge and transition of patients.

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 PM - 1:45 PM

Managing Variability in Patient Flow

Marilyn Rudolph

This session will introduce variability methodology and demonstrate the effect of variability on access to care, nurse staffing, cost, and quality of care.  The session will present key measures and real-life examples of managing variability to improve patient flow. After this session participants will be able to identify the effects of variability on patient safety and quality of care and describe key considerations in managing variability to help improve patient flow.

Objectives:

• Identify the effects of variability on patient safety and quality of care.
• Describe key considerations in managing variability to help improve patient flow.

1:45 PM - 2:30 PM

Execution: Project Management and Change Management

Kirk Jensen and Kevin Nolan

Organizations can have good ideas and the will to make changes but fail in their improvement efforts due to the lack of skilled execution. Two important components of executing projects will be discussed in this final session.

Objective: Identify strategies for project management and change management.

2:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Summary and Adjourn