Workshop on Patient Flow, Teamwork and Quality Patient Care

Poor patient flow can have a detrimental effect on healthcare services and the welfare of both staff and patients. As in all hospitals, care is provided through many specialized departments, such as radiology, surgery and various types of patient wards, as well as by ancillary departments, such as admissions, medical records, laboratory, pharmacy, housekeeping and transportation.

A patient arriving through the emergency department encounters repeated waits as he or she progresses from one stage of care to another, waiting for rooms, equipment, physicians, nurses, technicians, beds, medications, and records.

Patient flow represents the ability of the healthcare system to serve patients quickly and efficiently as they move through these stages of care. When the system works well, each stage is completed with minimal delay. When the system is broken or overloaded, patients accumulate like a reservoir, as in the chronic delays experienced in many hospitals and emergency departments.

Thus good patient flow means that patient queuing is minimized; poor patient flow means that patients suffer considerable queuing delays. This course is designed to examine how patient flow can be improved, and this improvement will have a positive impact on the quality of healthcare services delivery.

For Whom:

This program is designed for all healthcare leaders in the medical profession that form part of the medical care giver in the hospitals such as Doctors, Physician Assistants, Nurses, Pharmacists, Dentists, Technologists and technicians, Therapists and rehabilitation specialists, and service support providers, Administrative and support staff in both public and private hospitals. Hospital Business Office including Patient Access, Billing, Schedulers and others will also benefit from this program.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the program, participants will be able to;

• Synchronize healthcare service delivery process through effective coordination of tests, treatments and discharge in the hospital
• Schedule hospital resources such as “doctors, nurses and administrative support staff” to match patient patterns of arrival
• Constantly monitor and track number of patients waiting by location for immediate actions
• Create teamwork approach to patient flow management in the hospital
• Distinguish between productive waiting “e.g., recovery” from unproductive waiting “e.g. waiting for tests”
• Use collaborative approach “best practices” in hospital management around common objectives, such as reliability, patient safety and good patient flow for effective healthcare service delivery
• Outline how patient flow can be improved.
• List ways in which efficient patient flow can influence quality healthcare.
• Identify ways in which teamwork can be used to improve patient flow.