A robust command center has helped Carilion Clinic manage its stretched hospital bed capacity.
Carilion Clinic has mastered the intricacies of operating a command center that manages patient transfers into and out of the health system.
Like many health systems across the country, Carilion Clinic is grappling with patient volumes that stretch bed capacity. Under these circumstances, managing patient flow and patient transfers into and out of the health system are crucial.
"We have real-time assessment of every hospital bed in the health system, including emergency departments," says Paul Haskins, MD, SVP medical director of the Carilion Transfer and Operations Center. "So when you have an enterprise command center, it has all aspects of patient flow, including a real-time situational awareness of the primary drivers of hospital systems, which include the transfer process into the system, the operating rooms, and the emergency departments."
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Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
An efficient command center manages patient transfer effectively and eliminates duplication of processes.
Staffing command centers with registered nurses who have ICU or emergency medicine training avoids the expense of employing physicians.