Summary of Results:  Body of Knowledge Committee Tools and Content Opportunities Survey

This August, 122 SHS members answered a survey regarding the types of tools and content that would be most valuable for today’s health systems improvement practitioner.  While the incisive responses will definitely guide the Body of Knowledge committee, the chairman, Ron McDade, thought it appropriate to share the results with everyone in this month’s newsletter.

The first question asked respondents to rate the importance of 27 general topics. The top five topics (by average ranking) were: 

Performance Improvement Programs / Management Engineering (2.66 out of 3)
Patient Throughput (2.59 out of 3)
Best Practice Articles (2.63 out of 3)
Lean (2.55 out of 3)
Data Collection / Analysis Tools (2.51 out of 3)

This month’s newsletter provides two articles that match these top scoring categories.  In the first, “Simple Queuing Theory Tools You Can Use In Healthcare,” Jeff Johnson with North Colorado Medical Center provides a refresher course on the basic mathematics behind patient throughput.  The second also focuses on patient throughput, but from a  clinical best-practice perspective.  In “In by 9 Out by 6 – Level Loading,” Kate Bombach and Susan Fisher describe how the University of Michigan now manages their demand for inpatient CT scans and the positive results that have followed.

The second question focused on the importance of 20 staffing topics.  The top five topics (by average ranking) were: 

Inpatient nursing staffing and processes (2.52 out of 3)
Emergency Services (2.36 out of 3)
Patient Intake/Admissions/Registration Operations (2.28 out of 3)
Perioperative Services (2.19 out of 3)
Outpatient Services/Clinics (2.18 out of 3)

The third question was a free response about other topics of interest. Overall, the answers to this third question support the discussion of more quantitative methods and tools for capacity and staffing analysis, clinical decision making optimization/modeling and process/work flow modeling.  Half (15 of 30) of the responses mentioned these topics. 

In conclusion, all members can expect the survey results to drive future SHS conferences, publications, seminars and other deliverables.  The Body of Knowledge committee would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who completed the survey.