Filling the gaps in infusion nurse scheduling
Operational leaders within the Oncology service line are fully aware of exactly how difficult it is to balance the multiple tradeoffs that must be made in order to schedule infusion services efficiently. Patients would like to have a consistent schedule for each week of their 8-week infusion regimen; nurses would like a predictable schedule to eat […]
UCHealth improved admission/discharge predictions, increased agility, and reduced daily chaos with advanced analytics
iQueue for Inpatient Beds is a cloud-based solution that drives daily inpatient capacity management decisions at all levels from a single operations-focused source of truth, including discharge and admissions predictions for each unit by time of day. iQueue for Inpatient Beds was developed to combat the key patient flow issues hospitals are facing, including poor […]
Optimizing speciality clinics in a telemedicine world
Patients resign themselves to this simple fact every time they have an appointment with a specialist: nearly half of the total time that they spend in the clinic will be spent waiting alone. This clinic “alone time” begins in the waiting room, both before and after check-in. Then there is the time spent perched on the […]
5 solutions to maximize your OR capacity
Operating Rooms (ORs) are the economic backbone of nearly every healthcare system, and OR utilization is a key metric. It’s a perishable commodity that trades in time, and once time comes and goes, it’s an opportunity forever lost. Too many times, ORs sit unused, for a variety of reasons, ranging from the early completion of […]
“No block left behind” in operating rooms
Operating Rooms are the economic backbone of a hospital, often generating more than 50 percent of revenues and profits for the institution. A single block of Operating Room time (~500 minutes) can generate $50K – $100K+ in revenue per day, depending on the payor and case mix. ORs are also the most expensive resource to […]
Making the invisible visible: optimizing operating room access
An earlier version of this article originally appeared on Health IT News. Accessing operating rooms (ORs) has been a cumbersome, manual process often managed by history and instinct. However, today’s environment requires lean, agile, and visible access into this expensive and complex hospital resource. Flexing OR access up and down, maximizing use of open time and […]
Maximizing infusion center efficiency by leveraging chair utilization data
Every day, an infusion center juggles its scarce resources, namely its infusion chairs, nurses and other staff, and it’s pharmacy resources. When managers and schedulers get it right, the day flows relatively smoothly and patient care is maximized. However, when unexpected variances occur in cycle time – the time patients are seated in infusion chairs […]
Guidelines for infusion centers to avoid clogged schedules
Every infusion center faces the operational challenge of maximizing its most scarce resources – infusion chairs, as well as nursing and pharmacy resources. At the heart of utilization is time, and while timing issues arise during the course of a treatment day – for example, a patient’s allergic reaction to a drug extending an appointment […]
How to minimize overbooking at infusion centers: establish a pathway
Smart infusion scheduling has always been a hard problem to crack. With operational constraints, varying nurse schedules, and very sick patients it is hard to construct a flawless schedule that fits the needs of everyone involved. Ensuring that each day runs smoothly has become a daunting and elusive task, while efficient appointment planning remains crucial […]
The data proves it: first case starts and turnover time are not your best metrics
As a perioperative business manager for almost a decade, I’ve seen dozens of operating room efficiency improvement projects and benchmarks that focus heavily on first case delays and turnover times. On the surface, that makes sense; if the first case doesn’t start on time, it has a snowball effect on the rest of the day. […]