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MS² BLOG
Effect of Hospital Late Discharges on HCAHPS Scores
The observation that Hospital units with the latest discharges (time of day) tend to have lower HCAHPS scores is increasingly being documented and observed nationally. My explanation for this is a little convoluted but I’ll do my best… * There are virtually no studies that have attempted to find a direct correlation between earlier discharges and the
Acute ED Decompression Plans
An important management element to consider whenever we attempt to improve ED operations is the implementation of acute ED decompression plans. This involves the design of pro-active strategies that are aimed to facilitate prompt movement of ED admitted patients and/or Holdovers to non-typical or underutilized areas of the Hospital which may be able to take
Hospital Staff Empowerment
We are all for staff empowerment. In fact, it is intrinsically woven into everything we do and help our clients accomplish. So much so that some of our clients have submitted the patient flow transformational initiatives we helped them implement as their Nursing Magnet Status accreditation projects and all of them received that coveted certification.
Common Myths and Misconceptions About Operationally Efficient ERs
Efficient ED-Myths & Misconceptions Misconception # 1 Operationally efficient EDs see patients faster. Many confuse faster care with timely service when in fact, they are different. The pressure to work faster happens when departments develop patient backlogs and get overcrowded. In this setting, staff needs to rush patient care and dispositions to bring waiting patients
Hospital Change Management
Most hospitals approach operational improvement as something that should be tackled by the internal resources already in place in each departmental silo. They also expect each department to address their problems and come up with solutions within their budget. This might be right for daily operations and non-disruptive incremental improvements but…fatal when change must occur
Why expansion is never the answer
As it has been shown time and time again, an Emergency Department that doubles its bed capacity never ends up seeing double the amount of patients before it requires another expansion. Why is that? The reason is simple. When a Hospital doubles ED physical capacity, it never doubles inpatient capacity nor doubles the number of
Emilio Belaval MD, FAAEM
I’m a Hospital change management expert concentrating on patient flow process redesign and Hospital efficiency. In 2004 I founded a consulting firm called Medical Strategies & Management Systems (MS²). Since then, I have helped many institutions achieve best-in-class inpatient and ED operational performance