It's also a boy, but with a difference, in that he received his name immediately upon arrival on planet earth.
Apart from the pristine look of the hospital's corridors, one other thing that caught my eye was the lack of activity and number of apparently unoccupied beds and rooms.
This brought to mind the question:
why can't hospitals schedule their resources so they're always as busy as a beehive?
After all, healthcare seldom takes convenient breaks -- to me it seems that those who are able to, schedule their work so as not to disrupt the enjoy of their weekends or holiday periods!
This lack of coordination undoubtedly contributes to the burgeoning healthcare budget in our Province; hospital resources (workers, plant and equipment) are incredibly expensive and should constantly be in use, except during maintenance periods, of course.
Airlines dread keeping planes on the ground for one second longer than necessary, weekends or otherwise -- perhaps this helps to explain why we don't normally have to spend up to 1/2 a day waiting for a flight!
This situation brings back memories of Jeffery Simpson's book, Chronic condition, which describes amongst other inefficiencies, the under-utilization of operating rooms in one hospital where he was able to conduct research.
Coincidentally, we see the same thing happening in the way we build our highways, i.e. with 3 or 4 lanes in each direction separated by permanently installed concrete, steel or wooden barriers; during rush hour or holiday traffic, one can't help but notice the obvious deficiency in the system whereby one direction is jammed whilst the other is way underutilized.
I've suggested in numerous posts that healthcare in our LHINs needs to be centrally managed -- this is one way we'll be able to become more efficient, notwithstanding our limited resources.
This post is simply another step along the journey...
Ernest A. James
President and CEO
Regal Informatics Inc.
