In a unique and integrated approach, The Definitive Guide to Emergency Department Operational Improvement: Employing Lean Principles with Current ED Best Practices to Create the "No Wait" Department exposes you to the academics behind managing the complex service environment that is the ED. The book combines applied management science and ED experience to create a model of how to improve your emergency department operations.


After summarizing the current state of emergency medicine, the book offers an in-depth presentation of Lean tools used in the ED along with basic and advanced flow principles grounded in queuing theory and the theory of constraints. It then shows how these concepts are applied in the emergency department and why they work, supported by a comprehensive case study in which Lean principles were used to transform an underperforming ED into a world-class operation.


The authors highlight three commonly referenced intervals in the ED: door to doc (input), doc to disposition (throughput), and disposition to departure (output). After reviewing best practices, the authors explain how to achieve excellence in your own environment by discussing change management, leadership, dealing with resistance, and other critical elements of creating a culture of change. Under any scenario realized by healthcare reform, this book provides the tools and concepts to improve your ED for patients, staff, the organization, and ultimately, society.