Anybody who has worked with physicians has heard the comment, “Organizing doctors is like herding cats; you just get scratched.”
When I finished business school a decade ago, a physician asked me, “What is the difference between business school and medical school?”
I replied, “There was a lot more memorization in medical school than business school. Also, 30-50% [...]

I want to bring readers’ attention to a well-written book that has implications for all of us who are passionate about collaboration, Leadership for Smooth Patient Flow, by Jensen, Mayer, Welch, and Haraden; Health Administration Press, (http://www.ache.org/pubs/redesign/productcatalog.cfm?pc=WWW1-2073. Also available at  http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Smooth-Patient-Flow-Jensen/dp/1567932657/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203717356&sr=8-1.)
The authors discuss six dimensions of flow:

Efficiency:

it is not just the quantity of time, but also [...]

Mauteen Bisognano and James Conway have written a great book, 10 Powerful Ideas for Improving Patient Care: Book 4. Chicago . Health Administration Press. 2008.
The chapter that I particularly enjoyed was “Use Patient Navigation,” where they cited the work of an oncologic surgeon, Dr. Harold Freeman, with patient navigators at Harlem Hospital.  Patient navigators are [...]