Hospitals were forced to cancel elective surgeries during pandemic peaks, making already protracted lists now so long physicians are concerned patients will die while they wait.
Litvak said a graph tracking patient flows would resemble an erratic electrocardiogram, with steep peaks and valleys, signalling a potential health disaster. That means surgical patients take up more beds earlier in the week, leaving people in the emergency room with long waits to get admitted. Hospitals are jammed by mid-week and nurses are overloaded with patients, he explained.
"You can work miracles on the flow of patients in the availability of resources and in the emptying of the emergency rooms," Fineberg told his audience, which included officials from Alberta Health Services.The University Health Network in Toronto, which runs the biggest surgical program in the country, adopted the Institute for Health Care Optimization's method shortly before the pandemic hit.
The result was a more predictable schedule for OR staff, fewer cancelled surgeries, cost savings and more work getting done.
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Source: VancouverSun - 🏆 49. / 61 Read more »