Overcrowding is endemic in most US hospitals, and untangling patient
flow is a top priority for today's healthcare leaders. Smash the
Bottleneck: Fixing Patient Flow for Better Care (and a Better Bottom
Line) lays out a concrete methodology for getting to the root of
patient-flow problems and addressing them--quickly. The book highlights
a continuous improvement methodology known as the Theory of Constraints
(TOC), which emphasizes identifying, optimizing, and breaking down
bottlenecks to improve overall system performance. Introduced in Eliyahu
M. Goldratt's seminal business book The Goal, this method and its
concepts have since been adopted by Fortune 500 companies worldwide.
Uniquely, the authors tie TOC to healthcare delivery from a
practitioner's point of view. They provide numerous examples of common
health system bottlenecks to illustrate how the methodology can be
applied in readers' own organizations. The book also showcases precisely
how TOC can help: decrease length of stay in inpatient units; coordinate
resources and break down organizational silos; reduce overcrowding and
increase throughput in emergency departments; and shorten wait times in
primary and specialty care clinics, imaging centers, and surgery
centers. Poor patient flow has grave implications for quality of care,
patient satisfaction, provider well-being, and an organization's bottom
line. Discover the practical knowledge and tools that you can use to
break bottlenecks and enact meaningful, lasting change.
