Verified Document

Arnold Palmer Hospital Labor And Delivery Workflow Essay

Arnold Palmer Hospital Labor and Delivery Workflow Analysis The Arnold Palmer Hospital (AHC) located in Orlando, Florida is considered one of the most efficient and patient-centric healthcare providers in the U.S. due to the customer satisfaction scores the facility receives and amount of patients the hospital sees on an annual basis. The AHC has been ranked fifth in patient satisfaction out of 5,000 hospitals and sees on average 1.5 million children and women annually. It is the fourth-busiest labor and delivery hospital in the U.S. And the largest neonatal intensive care unit in the entire Southeastern U.S. AHC has also put into place one of the most thorough and well-respected continuous improvement processes in the U.S. healthcare system. With the goal of 100% patient satisfaction, AHC has created an entire quality management and improvement organization which is now a critical part of its culture.

Of the myriad of processes that AHC relies on to operate daily, one of the more problematic is the Labor & Delivery Check-In. This process is made more challenging by the continually changing status of the patient and her imminent delivery of a baby. Healthcare processes need to be contextually relevant and have comparable time and value durations as patients in order to contribute to patient satisfaction (Ahsan, Shah, Kingston, 2010). The AHC labor and delivery check-in process is one that is very complex with ample room for patient dissatisfaction given the highly intricate nature of eight different decision points. With so much complexity there is the potential for confusion in the Labor and Delivery check-in process and frustration on the part of patients. Clearly this process needs significant improvement as the initial analysis of the workflow is shown in the first part of this analysis. Following the initial analysis of the Labor and Delivery check-in workflow, the complication of dealing with a Caesarean-section birth is discussed. Third, if mothers were electronically checked in vs. The manual process today, the workflows would change significantly. A second flowchart has been created to show the streamlined workflow as a result of the AHC choosing this alternative. For process re-engineering to be successful there needs to be a prioritization of customer-based goals first, followed by the selective use of technologies (Bertolini, Bevilacqua, Ciarapica, Giacchetta, 2011). The use of more...

It's shown in Figure 1, Existing Workflow of the APH Labor & Delivery Process. As has been mentioned earlier in this analysis, there is significant potential for improvement in the areas of the check-in process, use of Labor & Delivery Triage, and the use of the NCU. Workflows in each of these areas are very complex, time- and condition-dependent, and also lack a quantifiable level of measurement to determine just what steps need to be taken to assist a children's progress over time. Labor and Triage and the NCU could easily become bottlenecks if not managed to a series of performance-related goals. The entire process of Labor & Delivery defies the ability to define performance metrics due to its complexity. To ensure customer satisfaction over the long-term, it would be advisable to break the registration process, Labor and Delivery Triage Area, and NCU into smaller subprocesses. Ideally a separate, more streamlined workflow needs to be created for children who are experiencing significant problems, cycling between the NCU and Mother-Baby Care areas. This area of the workflow today has significant potential for improvement and greater simplification.
Figure 1: Existing Workflow of the APH Labor & Delivery Process

Caesarean-Section Birth Workflow

When a patient and physician choose a Caesarean-section (C-Section) birth, the process workflows in the areas of ICU, NCU and Mother-Baby Care require greater coordination. As a C-Section birth requires surgery, there are the added process areas of pre-operation preparation, the operation itself and all the logistics required, and the post-operation recovery procedures. AC-section workflow would require an entirely new series of processes branching off of the Labor and Delivery Triage origination point. There would also need to be more focus on post-operation procedures in the NCU as well, stabilizing both the baby and mother. All of these would bring several layers of complexity into the workflows shown in the lower left corner of the existing process workflow in Figure 1. Integrating C-section procedures…

Sources used in this document:
References

Ahsan, K., Shah, H., & Kingston, P. (2010). Location context for knowledge management in healthcare. International Journal of Healthcare Technology & Management, 11(1), 3.

Bertolini, M., Bevilacqua, M., Ciarapica, F.E., & Giacchetta, G. (2011). Business process re-engineering in healthcare management: A case study. Business Process Management Journal, 17(1), 42-66.

Hellstrom, A., Lifvergren, S., & Quist, J. (2010). Process management in healthcare: Investigating why it's easier said than done. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 21(4), 499-511.

Whiteman, A.S. (2004). Applying quality management in healthcare: A process for improvement. Hospital Topics, 82(1), 37-37.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Cesarean Section Rate in the United States
Words: 1753 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Cesarean section rate in the United States has risen 30% and while the use of this method is in the form of a life-saving operation, cesarean section significantly increases a woman's risk morbidity mortality. This work will examine the potential risks to the mother and infant with cesarean section. The cesarean section for the United States will be examined and the rates compared to countries with much lower rates. This

Elective Cesarean Section There Are Many Paths
Words: 1263 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

Elective Cesarean Section There are many paths to consider when a person becomes pregnant. The parents must decide whether to keep the child or not, then what type of care they will have while pregnant, and finally how they will bring the child into the world. There is the traditional method of birth where the infant is pushed through the vagina and there is Cesarean Section, or C-Section, wherein the baby

C-Sections in the United States. While the
Words: 674 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

C-Sections in the United States. While the article itself is not an empirical work, it draws extensively from the work of medical researchers and experts in the field. The phenomenon under consideration was the alarming increase in the rates of C-sections amongst all sectors of the American population. The writer used a bar chart to demonstrate that the numbers of C-sections have increased steadily from 1998 to 2007. The

C-Sections Relative to Hospital Size a Cesarean
Words: 1405 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

C-Sections Relative to Hospital Size A cesarean section, more commonly known as a C-section, is a surgical procedure in which a fetus is delivered via a hysterotomy rather than a more typical vaginal delivery procedure. There are many medical reasons why a c-section is necessary, although the geographic and demographic distribution of c-sections shows many trends in the prevalence of the procedure, indicating medical necessity is not the only reason

Gum Chewing Following Cesarean in Their Research
Words: 668 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Paper

Gum Chewing Following Cesarean In their research article entitled "Gum-Chewing Speeds Return of First Bowel Sounds but Not First Defecation after Cesarean Section," Harma et al. (2009) explore a two-fold research question. First, they looked into the duration of postoperative ileus if gum was chewed following a cesarean section. Secondly they looked at whether there was a difference in the results when comparing patients who chewed sugar-free gum with the results

Is Pitocin Induction a Factor in Postpartum Hemorrhage
Words: 1697 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Proposal

Pitocin Induction and Postpartum Hemorrhage THE SEARCH CONTINUES Is Pitocin Induction a Factor in Postpartum Hemorrhage? The induction of oxytocin injection has been a bane of contention in the medical community not only because it has been listed as a high-alert medication, which incurs serious risks to the patient, the fetus and the institution. It is also used frequently to manage postpartum hemorrhage. This quantitative correlational study analyzes and presents the findings of

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now