Managing Disruptions to Patient Flow Capacity: Rapid-Cycle Improvement in a Pediatric Cardiac Procedure Complex

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Operations
• Systems Engineering
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Managing healthcare service disruptions is complex.
• Discrete event simulation (DES) is a tool for testing system changes.
• A 6-week renovation of a Hybrid Suite required a disruption management strategy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a strategy for managing a 6-week service disruption at a cardiac center.
• To maintain patient demand and operational efficiency during a period of diminished capacity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized discrete event simulation (DES) to predict system capacity during the disruption.
• Implemented a rapid improvement event (RIE) involving stakeholders to identify and test solutions.
• Applied quality improvement (QI) methodologies to address systemic challenges.

Main Results:

• First-case start time improved by 43 minutes.
• Turnaround time between cases decreased by 23 minutes.
• System throughput increased slightly, handling 138 patients compared to 135 the previous year.

Conclusions:

• A combination of systems analysis and QI methodologies successfully managed the service disruption.
• Proactive management of planned disruptions can yield positive results in healthcare settings.