Hospital-wide Patient Flow Improvements

Session
Patient Flow

Authors
Joseph Swartz
Director, Business Transformation
St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers

Kathy Holmes
Director, Critical Care Nursing
St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers

Matthew Pierce
Manager, AIU Nursing Unit
St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers

Description
St. Francis Hospital is on a journey to improve hospital-wide patient flow using Lean Six Sigma techniques. We will walk participants through the set of 15 plus initiatives that were implemented.

Abstract
We are working to improve inpatient throughput hospital-wide. To date, the average turn around time to place patients in an inpatient bed has been reduced by 90 minutes. Some of the initiatives implemented so far are: 1. vent management and weaning protocols bundle to reduce length of stay, 2. bed czar/coordinator, 3. bed board and processes, 4. process mapping and standardization across 3 hospitals, 5. dramatic door to balloon time reduction, 6. SBAR handoff process, 7. discharge teams, 8. hospitality centers, 9. bedding in the hallways, and 10. day one discharge planning.