Managing Patient Flow in Hospitals: Strategies and Solutions

Efficient management of patient flow has become an urgent issue for most hospitals. Emergency department crowding, nurse staffing shortages, and patient outcomes, complication rates, and even mortality rates have all been linked to shortages of hospital beds and associated stresses on staff when patient volume peaks. To compound the problem of inefficiencies and variability in patient flow, health care systems now face strenuous economic challenges not previously experienced. Managing Patient Flow in Hospitals: Strategies and Solutions, Second Edition, provides hospitals with scientifically grounded methods to optimally manage patient flow and serves as an indispensable guide to effective operations management.