We have collected all of the best content we know of — including change concepts, measures, resources, improvement stories, and downloadable tools — to help you improve patient flow in your organization. But, you may ask, "Where should I begin?"
Try starting here:
To get a baseline understanding of the magnitude of the flow problem in your hospital, measure Time from ED to Inpatient Bed. Just enter your raw data into the Improvement Tracker and it will automatically graph your improvement over time.
For some quick tips on Forming a Team, Setting Aims, Establishing Measures, and Testing Changes, take a look at the How to Improve page.
For a quick overview of the issues involved in improving the flow of patients in the acute care setting, read the GAO Report, Hospital Emergency Departments: Crowded conditions vary among hospitals and communities.
A good change to test is using AM Bed Huddles to plan ahead for each day's admissions and discharges. Use the AM Bed Huddle Tool to keep track of the information you gather during each huddle.
Read IHI's white paper, Optimizing Patient Flow, to learn about a model for evaluating patient flow, testing changes for improvement, and measuring results.
