Key Performance Indicators across the Perioperative Process: Holistic Opportunities for Improvement via Business Process Management

Abstract

This study examines the development and use of multiple scorecard metrics within each stage of the perioperative process as key performance indicators to enable business process management practices across the entire process to target and measure continuous improvement. This paper identifies how dynamic technological activities of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis applied to internal and external organizational data can highlight complex relationships within integrated hospital processes to target opportunities for improvement and ultimately yield improved process capabilities. The identification of existing limitations, potential capabilities, and the subsequent contextual understanding are contributing factors that yield measured improvement. This case study investigates the impact of integrated information systems to identify, qualify, and quantify perioperative improvement based on a 154-month longitudinal study of a large, 1.046 registered-bed teaching hospital. The theoretical and practical implications and/or limitations of this study’s results are also discussed with respect to practitioners and researchers alike.