Rapid Changeover Improvement

Rapid changeover is one of the most important tools to master for emergency medicine and healthcare. The concept of changeover affects everything we do in the ED. Examples of change over include, but are not limited to, room change over from one patient’s departure to the arrival of the next; the need to do a procedure until it is done; the time the CT scanner stops on one patient to the time the CT scanner starts on the next patient. These are all situations where understanding the concept of rapid changeover and how to approach changeover will literally transform your workplace.

$5.00

About The Course

Learn the concepts and benefits rapid changeover for improving value-added utilization of key resources.

Rapid changeover is one of the most important tools to master for emergency medicine and healthcare. The concept of changeover affects everything we do in the ED. Examples of change over include, but are not limited to, room change over from one patient’s departure to the arrival of the next; the need to do a procedure until it is done; the time the CT scanner stops on one patient to the time the CT scanner starts on the next patient. These are all situations where understanding the concept of rapid changeover and how to approach changeover will literally transform your workplace.

What exactly is changeover? Changeover is the amount time taken to change a service line from the last step of one process to the first step of the next process sequence. This is typically referenced in terms of the revenue-generating entity, which in healthcare is usually, but not always, the physician. A good analogy in the airline industry is Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines claims the following, “We’re not making any money as long as the plane’s on the ground.” So, in the case of the airline industry, it’s the plane. In the case of the ER, it’s clearly the physician.

The following are the 5 steps to improving changeover:

  1. Identify all of the Steps in the process
  2. Classify steps as internal or external
  3. Eliminate any activities that do not appear to be necessary or add value
  4. Convert any of the remaining activities from internal to external when possible
  5. Appropriately staff, choreograph, and practice the remaining activities

Your Instructor

Joseph T. Crane, MD, MBA

Joseph T. Crane, MD, MBA

Dr. Crane is a practicing, board-certified Emergency Physician. He lectures internationally on a variety of topics in Emergency Medicine and Lean Healthcare, and is considered one of the leading experts in Emergency Department Operations in the U.S.

Dr. Crane began his career in Emergency Medicine in Fredericksburg, Virginia at Mary Washington Healthcare in 2000. There he served as Director of Operations for his Emergency Medicine physician group from 2004 to 2009, leading a number of innovative changes in his ED. He later served as Senior Medical Director for Stafford Hospital and served on the Mary Washington Healthcare Board of Trustees from 2011-2013. In 2012, Dr Crane was recruited to work for The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group as Associate Regional Medical Director with oversight of Acute Care Services, Telemedicine, Innovation, and Medicare/Medicaid for Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland.

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