Optimizing Emergency Department Throughput Operations Management Solutions for Health Care Decision Makers

Introduction: Description of Current Status of Emergency Departments and Hospitals

Fixing the Front End: Why Would an Emergency Department Medical Director or Nursing Supervisor Wish to Install Emergency Severity Index (ESI) Triage? D. Eitel and T. Falvo

Process Mapping and Workflow Diagramming in Health Care, S. McKniff

What is Lean Six Sigma? An Introduction to Lean and Six Sigma for the Health Care Novice, D. Eitel

Using Lean-Six Sigma to Accelerate Emergency Department Results, G. Butler , C. Caldwell, and S. Elswick

Queuing Models for Hospital Emergency Departments, Y.A. Ozcan

The Nursing Perspective and Role in Planning a Simulation Modeling Project: Historical, Experiential, and Future Applications of Complex Adaptive Systems Thinking; with an Emergency Department Case Study, S. O’Hara

The Physiology of Service Capacity, P. Story and D. Eitel

The Door-to-Doc Toolkit: Planning Emergency Department Capacity for Delivering Safe Care, T.L. Burdick , J.K. Cochran , R. Andrews , M.E. Bucco, J.R. Broyles , and K.T. Roche

Forecasting the Demand for Emergency Department Services, M.J. Côté, E. Akçalı, and D. Eitel

Improving Fairness in Nurse Scheduling: Introducing a New Approach Using Auctions and Integer Programming Optimization, M.L. DeGrano

Establishing Engineered Nurse Staffing Requirements in the Emergency Department, F. Overfelt

Patient Safety Organizations: A New Paradigm in Quality Management and Communication Systems in Health Care, D.B. Dotan

Alternative Emergency Care Settings, J. Lifton

Appendix A : Case Study—Surviving and Thriving in Emergency Department Chaos

Appendix B

About the Editors

About the Contributors

Biography

David Eitel, John M. Shiver

Much as a surgeon uses a scalpel, retractor, and other tools to operate on a patient, Shiver gives the healthcare manager the tools they need to enhance the function of the Emergency Department, the 'front door' of every community’s health care system. The text is clear, concise and understandable to those lacking a technical background but who still want to apply fairly sophisticated techniques to improving the patient experience and the productivity of ED staff.
— J. Knox Singleton, President and CEO, Inova Health System

Optimizing Emergency Department Throughput is a breakthrough in creating a framework for ED transformation. It uses state-of-the-art improvement techniques to solve problems bedeviling America: crowding and delays in critical treatment. Shiver and Eitel offer clear, practical approaches that leaders can use to get results.
— Bruce Siegel MD MPH, Director, Center for Health Care Quality, Department of Health Policy

For those physician leaders and hospital administrators who wonder if there are solutions out there for their frustrating overcrowding and flow issues, this book provides a needed introduction to the science of reengineering your health care delivery system. The authors build on decades of experience together with proven models from the literature that will help you move your organization forward, while improving patient and staff satisfaction.
— Christopher MB Fernandes, Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Western Ontario/Chair, Medical Advisory Committee, London Health Sciences Centre

This is a very practical, idea filled book that should be read by any healthcare professional supervising, dependent upon, working in or "sinking" in one of America’s besieged emergency departments. I found myself repeatedly circling, underlining, and writing in the margins throughout the book. In the introduction, Shiver reports that ED’s "are not at a tripping point; they are at a breaking point". The "tools" presented in this book can prevent or at least delay your tumble into that seemingly inevitable abyss.
— Robert J. Cates MS, MD, Chairman of Emergency Medicine, Inova Fairfax Hospital

Because the ED is a major gateway to all hospital services, a public health asset, and an economic driver or millstone, Optimizing Emergency Department Throughput is an essential read for all CNEs, COOs and CEOs.
— Lawrence L. White, Jr. MHA, FACHE, Research Assistant Professor, School of Public and Community Health Sciences, University of Montana