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Patient Flow

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement is currently developing and adapting a suite of tools to help organizations accelerate their work to improve patient flow. In addition, organizations have developed tools in the course of their improvement efforts — successful protocols, forms and worksheets, instructions and guidelines for implementing key changes — and are making them available on IHI.org for others to use or adapt in their own organizations. We invite you to submit tools you have found useful!

Change the Work Environment
Decrease and Smooth Variation
General Tools
IHI Conference Presentation
Improve the Workflow
Match Capacity and Demand
Measurement and Feedback

Tools Icon Key
PDF PDF (Downloadable) Power Point Powerpoint (Downloadable)
Word Doc Word (Downloadable) Access Access (Downloadable)
Excel Excel (Downloadable) Tool Interactive Tool (Online)

Change the Work Environment

A job description for a bed manager; developed by William Beaumont Hospital (Troy, Michigan, USA)

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A job description for a Supervisor of Bed Operations; developed by William Beaumont Hospital (Troy, Michigan, USA)

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Trigger Point Guidelines assist with efficient bed control; developed by Scottsdale Healthcare (Scottsdale, Arizona, USA)

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A worksheet used to facilitate sharing of information during AM Bed Huddles; developed by Owensboro Mercy Health System (Owensboro, Kentucky, USA)

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Decrease and Smooth Variation

Established criteria to help emergency department (ED) staff determine which patients are appropriate to send through the ED Fast Track — that is, patients with less serious conditions who can be treated more quickly and then released.

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A set of guidelines for prioritizing bed assignments for patient admissions; developed by Baptist Memorial Hospital – Memphis (Memphis, Tennessee, USA)

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General Tools

A glossary of common patient flow and general improvement terms; developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)

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IHI Conference Presentation

Bon Secours Venice Hospital (Venice, Florida, USA) used this PowerPoint presentation at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's IMPACT Learning Session to explain changes they made to improve flow within their organization.

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Improve the Workflow

A form used to transfer information about patients to receiving units; developed by OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center (Rockford, Illinois, USA)

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Match Capacity and Demand

The Queueing ToolPak (QTP) is a Microsoft Excel add-in that performs basic calculations for waiting line analysis.

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The Surgical Admissions Case Demand Mapping Tool helps identify capacity and demand trends and helps in planning for needed beds for elective surgical admissions; developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)

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This tool helps identify patterns in the time of day of arrivals and admissions to the emergency department; developed by Luther Midelfort – Mayo Health System (Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA)

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Measurement and Feedback

An Excel form used to track the time it takes to transfer a patient from the ICU to the next level of care, the type of bed assigned, and a reason code if the transfer time is greater than two hours; developed by Scottsdale Healthcare (Scottsdale, Arizona, USA)

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Workspace on IHI.org