Reengineering and improving the information-intensive work of patient tracking for inpatients and outpatients

This article describes a CQI-driven effort to reengineer the tracking procedures for both inpatients and outpatients, refined to the extent that they have been identified as "best practices." The goal was to shift the work paradigm from a departmental focus to one that accepts work as a network of processes, but also to prepare for the new era of the electronic medical record, moving computer record keeping far closer to the point of care, requiring more precise recording of patient location.