We’ve all worked our way through the slow-moving bowels of the American healthcare system at one point or another. Maybe you had to fight your way to an appointment with a specialist who is apparently booked out six months in advance. Maybe you needed tests done that required you to arrive at the hospital before the sun was in the sky, only to sit waiting for two hours.

Frustrations are endless in healthcare, and hospital processes are often at least part of the problem. Streamlining the experience could reduce frustration, but more importantly, it could also improve patient outcomes.

How Efficiency Improves Patient Outcomes

It’s pretty simple. In most healthcare situations, speed is the name of the game. The quicker a problem is identified and addressed, the better the person’s odds of recovery. Small inefficiencies can add up to big problems over time.

First: A Balanced View of the Situation

It’s easy to get to see healthcare systems as foolish or nonsensical when you sit there waiting endlessly for something that feels like it should be simple enough to you. That specialist from the introduction, for example. Why does it have to take six months just to get five minutes of her time?

Well, maybe because she is the only person with deep knowledge of your specific condition within one hundred miles. Maybe it’s because she’s a truly exceptional physician who attracts patients from all over the world. Your wait time is frustrating, but it isn’t a question of efficiency.

In fact, it more likely owes to healthcare’s biggest problem: Scarcity. It’s hard to make doctors and nurses and even harder to keep them. Employment shortages are shaping patient experiences all over the country and they have no direct tie to efficiency issues.

But what about that other example from the introduction? You’ve been told you need to have a routine test done. You arrived, at the hospital’s request, at 6 AM, noting in your head that everything in hospitals seems to happen at 6 AM, doesn’t it?

When you get there, the receptionist is already at his desk. He hands you a stack of forms, which you fill out over the course of fifteen minutes. Then—you wait. You wait for an hour, and then you wait some more. Finally, you walk up to the desk. What’s going on? You ask the receptionist. He smiles politely—this is a question he’s heard before, you think—and says, “Don’t worry. The doctor just got in. You’ll be up any minute.”

That, of course, is an efficiency issue. What impact do these problems have on patient outcomes, and what can hospitals do to address the problem?

Policy Refinement

The simplest way to improve a policy at any business is to have qualified administrators pick through it with a fine tooth comb. Right, you think. That’s what administrators do. It’s what they are there for, isn’t it?

Yes, but the way policies are reviewed can itself be more efficient. Any change to hospital processes should be regularly reviewed and tweaked. It should be an iterative process. Make a change. Let that change play out for a few weeks. Review it. Tweak it again.

An attitude of constant improvement will help reduce inefficiencies by ensuring that progress is always on the mind. Administrators can learn a lot about hospital inefficiencies by taking surveys from patients and also listening to what doctors and nurses have to say.

Often, front-line workers will have a much better understanding of what works and what does not than people who are doing their jobs from a desk.

Tech Efficiency

Remote patient monitoring technology makes it easier to evaluate multiple patients at the same time. Where once a nurse would need to go into each room to take vital signs and make sure that all of the patients on their floor were doing ok, now, using IoT-powered devices, that nurse can review many basic data points remotely, from a computer.

This saves a significant amount of time and also gives nurses the opportunity to put more effort into high-value work.

Outcomes are improved in the short term simply by the fact that acute problems are identified much quicker than they otherwise would have been. There is also a long-term benefit in the fact that nurses can potentially make better use of their time.

Strong Leadership

Great healthcare leaders can also go a long way toward reducing inefficiency within the healthcare system. Nursing leaders are able to leverage advanced practice training and years of personal experience to make floor policies that best produce productivity and good results.

Nursing leaders generally need to obtain a master’s degree. In a world where there aren’t enough nurses, it’s not always easy for hospitals to find leadership candidates with advanced credentials, but keeping them on staff can greatly improve overall efficiency.

Conclusion

Streamlining processes is a worthwhile objective for any business. The steps described in this article could help improve patient outcomes. However, it is important to understand that most healthcare problems in the United States are deeply intertwined.

Regardless of how well a hospital refines its processes, it will still likely struggle with staffing shortages. And what can a few new floor policies do to fix the cost problem?

To truly maximize the recovery potential of people using the American healthcare system it is important to both cultivate a strong roster of future healthcare workers and develop legislative policies that can help reduce the overwhelming cost of care.

Interested in being part of the solution? You can make a big difference in your community by becoming a nurse. Nursing is a popular second career because it is meaningful, high-paying work. What’s more, if you already have a college degree, the training process may be much more streamlined than you would first assume.

Start researching how to become a nurse in your state so that you can begin working as a healthcare hero.

With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.