PolicyLab’s Evan Fieldston worked with a multidisciplinary team to conduct a real-time observation of how beds in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of an urban children’s hospital were used over time. The study, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, found periods when no PICU beds were available for new patients in part because of excessive time for non-clinical activities (e.g. bed assignment and room preparation). The findings suggest the importance of targeting both clinical and non-clinical processes when trying to improve patient flow, and highlight the value of observational analysis in identifying areas for improving healthcare delivery. Read the news brief.
