‘Smoothing’ Strategies in Children’s Hospitals Reduce Overcrowding
A report published online May 24 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine found that smoothing inpatient occupancy and scheduled admissions in 39 children’s hospitals helped reduce midweek overcrowding. Evan S. Fieldston, MD, MBA, MSHP, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia and colleagues previously demonstrated occupancy variability and midweek crowding weekends (J Hosp Med. 2011;6:81-87). Strategies the team studied included controlling admissions when possible to achieve more level occupancy, with a mean of 2.6% of admissions moved to a different day of the week.
