Using Key Performance Indicators to Reduce Perceived Perioperative Complexity and Improve Patient Workflow

Abstract

This study examines the development and use of balanced scorecard metrics as key performance indicators within each stage of the perioperative process to enable business process management across the entire process to gauge performance and target improvement opportunities. The identification of existing limitations, potential capabilities, and the subsequent contextual understanding are contributing factors toward perioperative improvement. This paper identifies how dynamic technological activities of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis applied to internal and external organizational data can highlight complex relationships within integrated hospital processes to address root causes rather than symptoms and ultimately yield improved capabilities. This case study investigates how integrated information systems can identify, qualify, and quantify perioperative performance indicators to measure improvement based on a 157-month longitudinal study of a large, 1,157 registered-bed teaching hospital. The theoretical and practical implications and/or limitations of this study's results are also discussed with respect to practitioners and researchers alike.