A Case Study Perspective toward Data-driven Process Improvement for Balanced Perioperative Workflow

Based on a 143-month longitudinal study of an academic medical center, this paper examines operations management practices of continuous improvement, workflow balancing, benchmarking, and process reengineering within a hospital’s perioperative operations. Specifically, this paper highlights data-driven efforts within perioperative sub-processes to balance overall patient workflow by eliminating bottlenecks, delays, and inefficiencies. This paper illustrates how dynamic technological activities of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis applied to internal and external organizational data can highlight complex relationships within integrated processes to identify process limitations and potential process capabilities, ultimately yielding balanced workflow and improvement. Study implications and/or limitations are also included.