Many hospitals and health care facilities experience a surge in patients at some point during their operation. Whether it is temporary or permanent, a large influx of patients can certainly put a drain on your resources. Here are some things to think about when you're trying to expand your health care facility's capacity while conserving your resources as much as possible.
Reevaluating Space Use to Colocate Patients
Sometimes, you don't have the budget to add a lot of new space to your facility. At the same time, you're trying to fit more patients into the same space. One option for creating more space is to look at the most over- and under-utilized spaces. You may need to co-locate certain patients in order to create space for more people. Start by looking at the spaces that see the least volume of traffic, and try to consolidate them in order to provide more space to your busiest teams.
Moving Patients More Quickly Through Coveted Spaces
Since certain spaces are likely to have a much higher demand than others, you might want to think of ways that you can move patients through these spaces more quickly. For example, if you have patients who aren't quite ready to go home yet but are not high-need patients any longer, you could consider creating a communal resting room for patients to relax. This would free up more individual rooms for patients who still need to be near to the physician.
Buying Refurbished Equipment
It's likely that in this process you will need to buy additional equipment to meet the needs of your new patients. If you're able to find a trusted source to buy refurbished surgical tables and other equipment from, it can help you reduce your purchase costs tremendously. This equipment may be abandoned by facilities who don't want to go through the hassle of replacing parts or figuring out what's wrong, but with a little bit of evaluation from a medical equipment specialist, it can be good as new. These used equipment purchases may come with a warranty from the refurbisher as well, meaning that you take on little added risk in buying them. Contact a company like Heartland Medical Specialties Inc. to learn more about buying refurbished equipment.
Reevaluating Staffing Needs and Ratios
More staff may be needed for your facility as well, and it can be a great time to reevaluate the ratio of staff. When money is tight, hiring more physician's assistants can be a great move, as they are able to handle many routine issues.
