ASC Management
Ten Ways to Improve Patient Flow
Want happier patients and staff? Use these strategies to minimize long waiting times and slowdowns.

BY MYRIAM ASSOULINE, B.SC.N., M.H.A.

Patient flow -- the rate at which pa-tients are processed through your ASC -- is a key factor in your ASC's success. Of course, some events that can influence patient flow, such as power failures, are out of your control. Patients are usually understanding and tolerant when these types of delays occur. But other factors are well within your control, and you owe it to your patients and your staff to make sure they don't become the source of bottlenecks and slowdowns.

KEEPING THE WHEELS TURNING

Here are some specific things you can do to ensure that your patients move through your ASC as smoothly and quickly as possible.

Create a procedure and protocol manual. This should describe in detail the various job functions in the ASC, as well as the protocols. The manual will make it crystal clear who does what, and how they're expected to do it.

Provide patients with information ahead of time. If you provide informative material beforehand (brochures, information packages, or a Web site patients can visit), you and your staff will spend less time answering trivial questions.

Consider changing the order of the patient's routine. You may be able to minimize congestion by changing the sequence of the steps your ASC patients go through during their visits -- e.g., registering at reception, seeing the clinical counselor, being examined by the optometrist, and so forth.

Reconsider the spacing of appointments. If you space appointments too close together, waiting times increase and you create more unhappy patients. If you stay late to finish seeing the backlog of patients anyway, why not just decide to make the longer hours official and space out the appointments? You'll still see the same number of patients and work the same hours, but wait times will be acceptable. Or, make a trade off: See slightly fewer patients, but have happier patients and staff -- and better word-of-mouth.

Use an inventory management system. Having an adequate inventory management system for medical and surgical supplies is crucial to maintaining patient flow. An out-of-stock situation can bring activity in your ASC to a halt. (Try explaining to patients that their surgery was canceled because you ran out of blades.)

Consider changing the size of your staff. It's important to have the right number of employees for the volume of patients you see in your ASC. A short-staffed situation slows down patient flow, causing bottlenecks and long wait times. (Cross-training will also help avoid bottlenecks when a staff member is out sick or on vacation.)

Look carefully at your layout. How the physical space of your ASC is configured can either help or hinder patient flow. Is the physical design congruent with the workflow? Do you have the right number of lanes? Is the size and capacity of the waiting area adequate?

Contract a preventative maintenance program for all major equipment. This is essential. Technological breakdowns can result in significant delays and cause patients to lose trust in a procedure.

Make sure your staff is knowledgeable. Training and sharing information at staff meetings can help ensure that information given out is complete, and consistent among staff members. Patients receiving incomplete or contradictory information will necessitate lengthy follow-up explanations, causing bottlenecks in patient flow.

Start your day on time. Starting your day late is a surefire way to cause delays in the patient flow, even if all the other factors listed above have been managed effectively.

FOCUSING ON WHAT COUNTS

Running a successful ASC is tricky enough without unnecessary delays. Try the suggestions listed here, and you should avoid a host of common causes of congestion and long wait times. Then you can focus on doing what you do best -- helping your patients see better.

Myriam Assouline, B.Sc.N., M.H.A., is a healthcare consultant. You can reach her at massouline@aol.com.