Operations Management Theory in Health Care

The application of operations management theory can improve health care services.

To meet health care challenges, health care organizations can apply operations management theory to build new efficiencies into daily patient processing and care.

Identification

Operations management theory in health care refers to the application of mathematical and statistical tools to predict, forecast and solve management and business processing problems in a health care environment.

Application

An example is the application of queuing theory and critical path analysis to optimize emergency room patient processing. This is where analysts evaluate and analyze emergency room wait-time data to determine the optimal path or process to reduce emergency room wait times and overall service.

Benefits

Health care organizations who apply these theories can possibly reduce bottlenecks, wait times, reduce staff overtime and improve overall patient care.

References

• Institute of Health Improvement (IHI): Operations Management in Health Care
• Connextions: What Is Queuing Theory?
• Mindtools: Critical Path Analysis and PERT Charts