Reduced Time to Admit Emergency Department Patients to Inpatient Beds Using Outflow Barrier Analysis and Process Improvement.

Objective: Because admitted emergency department (ED) patients waiting for an inpatient bed contribute to dangerous ED crowding, we conducted a patient flow investigation to discover and solve outflow delays. After solution implementation, we measured whether the time admitted ED patients waited to leave the ED was reduced.

Methods: In June 2022, a team using Lean Healthcare methodologies identified flow delays and underlying barriers in a Midwest, mid-sized hospital.

Lean Health Care Internships: A Novel Systems-Based Practice Education Program for Undergraduate Medical Students.

Problem: Given the United States' urgency for systemic-level improvements to care, advancing systems-based practice (SBP) competency among future physicians is crucial. However, SBP education is inadequate, lacks a unifying framework and faculty confidence in its teaching, and is taught late in the medical education journey.

Approach: The Oklahoma State University Center for Health Systems Innovation (CHSI) created an SBP program relying on Lean Health Care for a framework and targeted medical students before their second year began.