Healthcare Operations Management Flashcards
7 cards from real CHE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Healthcare Operations Management flashcards as text
Which metric best measures the efficiency of inpatient bed utilization in a hospital?
Answer: Occupancy rate
Occupancy rate directly measures the percentage of available beds being used, making it the primary indicator of inpatient bed utilization efficiency.
A healthcare executive wants to reduce patient wait times in the emergency department. Which operational approach is most appropriate?
Answer: Implementing lean process improvement methodologies
Lean process improvement methodologies systematically identify and eliminate waste in workflows, which directly reduces wait times without necessarily adding resources.
What is the primary purpose of a capacity management plan in a hospital setting?
Answer: To ensure adequate resources are available to meet patient demand
Capacity management plans are designed to align resources—beds, staff, equipment—with anticipated patient demand to ensure consistent service delivery.
Which of the following is an example of a throughput metric used in hospital operations?
Answer: Door-to-balloon time
Door-to-balloon time measures how quickly a STEMI patient moves through the system from arrival to intervention, making it a classic throughput metric.
When a hospital consistently operates above 90% bed occupancy, what operational risk is most likely to increase?
Answer: Inability to accept new admissions or ambulance diversions
Operating above 90% occupancy leaves little buffer capacity, making it difficult to accommodate new admissions and often forcing the hospital to divert ambulances.
Which scheduling model is designed to smooth out variability in elective surgical procedure volumes throughout the week?
Answer: Block scheduling
Block scheduling assigns dedicated time blocks to surgical teams or specialties, distributing procedures more evenly and reducing peaks and valleys in OR utilization.
A healthcare executive is implementing a patient flow initiative. Which department serves as the most critical bottleneck in most hospital throughput problems?
Answer: Emergency department
The emergency department is most commonly the primary bottleneck in hospital throughput because it serves as the main entry point for unscheduled admissions and is highly sensitive to downstream capacity constraints.