Strengths And Weaknesses Of Patient Flow Center

Survey of Potential Strengths and Weaknesses
Financial
The Patient Flow Center is a non-revenue producing department. That being said, one of the main purposes of this department is that of transferring in patients from outside hospitals. Once the patient has arrived, revenue can then be incurred.
Human Resource Management
Both licensed clinical and non-clinical staff members primarily staff the VUMC Adult Patient Flow Center. The backgrounds of those licensed staff member’s ranges from hospital administration, case management, cardiology, emergency room, all intensive care units, pediatrics, and neurology. 85% of the licensed staff have degree levels of BSN or higher. The department leadership structure begins with a physician medical director, non-clinical operating officer, followed by department director and manager that are registered nurses, transfer center staff that are registered nurses, and bed management specialists that are non-clinical. This structure provides a vast variety of learning opportunities, backgrounds, opinions, and education.
Organizational Infrastructure
One of the main focuses of the Patient Flow Center is that of in-house capacity management. Having an isolated department team that is knowledgeable and in control of the patient flow of the
The weakness to this is that because the needs of the communities we serve, the facility has internal capacity issues. Because of this, there may be extended wait times and lack of available beds. During these times we may not able to transfer patients from outside facilities, but do have options in place during these times. In some cases we are able to place patients on a waitlist, or concierge them to another local hospital that can appropriately care for the