Society for Health Systems News
January 2009
In This Issue
Queuing Analytic Theory and Discrete Events Simulation
Work Measurement in Skilled Labor Environments
Linking Records from Separate EHRs Becomes a Reality
SHS Conference and Expo 2009
If you want to beef up your knowledge of some of the more quantitative health systems engineering techniques, look no further than the two articles below.  Both provide detailed descriptions of popular operations improvement techniques, complete with cross-industry references and examples.  
 
 
Queuing Analytic Theory and Discrete Events Simulation for Healthcare: Right Application for the Right Problem
Alexander Kolker, PhD
Outcomes Operation Project Manager
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin  
Modern health care achieved great progress in developing and manufacturing medical devices, treatment procedures and drugs to serve individual patients. However, relatively little technical talent and material resources have been devoted to improving the overall health care delivery process as a system.
 
Discrete-event simulation (DES) models and queuing analytic (QA) theory are the most widely applied system engineering and operations research methods used for system analysis and justification of operational business decisions. Full article
Work Measurement in Skilled Labor Environments
Tom Best 
From manufacturing to consumer retail, construction to health care, more and more employers are hiring people for custom, high-skill jobs. These positions require a well-trained employee to perform a complicated process.  Accurate time measurements are vital for proper management of custom jobs. Without them, an organization cannot assign precise costs to an original labor task or predict the savings of an improved one.
 
Modern United States industry realizes the demand for accurate time estimations of custom work but fails as it attempts to fulfill it.  Read on

 

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Thanks to the SHS Newsletter Team:
Aaron Kanne
Bart Sellers
Mark Graban
Priya Khatri
Tom Best, Editor
 
For information about contributing content to the newsletter, contact Tom Best.
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 Linking Records from Separate EHRs Becomes a Reality
Press Release
Memorial Care, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children's Hospital
and Talbert Medical Group 
(Long Beach, Calif. - August 27, 2008) When Francine Fox, 76, went to the emergency department at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center with a breathing problem, she didn't know how long it would take the hospital to obtain her medical records from her regular physician at Talbert Medical Group. She also didn't know that she would be making history, as the first patient in the world to have her clinic and hospital medical records linked between separate organizations through a system called Care Everywhere. More

SHS Conference and Expo 2009 

April 1-4, 2009
McCormick Place
Chicago, Illinois
If you are responsible for quality, cost and safety within the health care field, the Society for Health Systems Conference and Expo 2009 is your destination. The ideal setting for quality improvement and productivity professionals, offering cutting-edge solutions for efficient health care processes.  The SHS Conference and Expo 2009 will be held in conjunction with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference (HIMSS) in Chicago at the McCormick Place, April 1-4, 2009. Mark the dates!
Register now for the best rates
 
2009 Student Paper Competition 
The winners  of the Student Paper Competition will present their projects during the SHS Conference.
 
The competition recognizes outstanding work that demonstrates the use of IE skills in improving health care-related products, processes or services. 
 
Submission deadline: January 15, 2009  
Winners will be notified by February 15, 2009.
More information on the competition