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Study: patient volume may be controllable
 

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t any given hospital in the country, a busy day can mean overcrowding, delayed care and even refused admissions to emergency rooms. The problem is so widespread that the practice of ambulance diversion—telling emergency crews that a hospital can’t take any new patients—is a widely recognized public health problem. Typically hospitals have considered two equally problematic solutions: rationing resources or wastefully expanding their operations.

But a recent study by Michael McManus, MD, associate director of Children’s Medical/Surgical ICU, James Mandell, MD, president and CEO of Children’s, and several of their colleagues, suggests that there may be a better way. Their analysis shows that often, spikes in patient caseload are more closely associated with scheduled cases—elective surgeries, for example—than with unscheduled emergency admissions. That means patient flow is more controllable than previously thought. The next step, says Mandell, is figuring out what operational changes will help smooth out caseloads.-CM

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