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December 12, 2006 – The payoff for improving patient flow goes far beyond shorter wait times. When patients flow smoothly through the care process, nurses and physicians have the time they need to provide safe and compassionate care. Treatment is provided in the optimal setting, which reduces risk and improves outcomes. Patients feel satisfied and recommend your services to others, and your bottom line improves as more patients are treated.
| This book provides the inspiration, information, and ideas you need to lead patient flow improvement efforts at your organization. You will learn from the successes and failures of the authors—healthcare leaders who have played pivotal roles in patient flow improvement projects. The book begins by explaining the fundamentals of patient flow and providing a solid business case for pursuing improvement efforts. It uses real-life examples to explain common patient flow theories and improvement methods. The heart of the book focuses on the practical information and leadership techniques you can use to foster change and remove the barriers to smooth patient flow. You will learn how to:
The book also explores what healthcare institutions can learn from other service organizations including Disney, Ritz-Carlton, and Starbucks. It discusses how to adapt their successful demand management and customer service techniques to the healthcare environment. “This book marks a milestone in the ability to explain and explore flow as a central, improvable property of healthcare systems. The authors are masters of both theory and application, and they speak from real experiences bravely met.” —Donald M. Berwick, M.D., President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (from the foreword) About the Authors: Kirk B. Jensen, M.D., MBA, FACEP, has spent over 20 years in emergency medicine management and clinical care. Dr. Jensen has been medical director for several emergency departments and is vice president of clinical operations for BestPractices, Inc. Dr. Jensen is a faculty member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement ( IHI) focusing on patient flow, quality improvement, and patient satisfaction both within the ED and within the hospital. In addition, Dr. Jensen served on the expert panel and site examination team for Urgent Matters, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative focusing on helping hospitals eliminate ED crowding and congestion as well as preserving the healthcare safety net. Thom A. Mayer, M.D., is president and chief executive officer of BestPractices, Inc., a national resource in physician leadership and management, which has placed major emphasis on patient flow and customer service. Dr. Mayer has been the keynote speaker at numerous healthcare leadership conferences and also serves as the medical director of the NFL Players Association. He has published over 60 articles and 60 book chapters and has edited 12 medical textbooks. With Dr. Robert Cates, he authored the book Leadership for Great Customer Service: Satisfied Patients, Satisfied Employees (Health Administration Press 2004). Shari J. Welch, M.D., FACEP, has been a practicing emergency physician for 20 years and a quality improvement consultant for 10 years. Dr. Welch has been a guest speaker at the Urgent Matters Conference, the ED Benchmarks Conference, the EDPMA Solutions Summit, VHA regional meetings, the AHRQ’s national meeting, and American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) national meetings. Her quality improvement research has been published in numerous journals. She is currently a faculty member at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and on the clinical faculty at the Urgent Matters Project for the Patient Flow Network. Carol Haraden, Ph.D.,FACEP, is vice president at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, where she is a member of the team responsible for developing innovative designs in patient care. Dr. Haraden has published several papers on measuring patient harm, improving intensive care outcomes, and innovation in healthcare design. She is an associate editor for the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care.
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