Application of Systems Engineering Science to the Healthcare Environment

This Doctoral dissertation consists of a research portfolio examining the application of systems engineering techniques to the healthcare environment. The portfolio consists of three final publishable articles submitted to meet the program requirements for the, Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing degree from the University of San Diego, Hahn school of Nursing and Health Sciences. Article one is titled; "Use of a bed projection tool to predict ICU bed needs." This article describes the dissertation research study in which a bed projection tool was piloted on an ICU unit to determine the tool's ability to predict inpatient bed requirements. Article 2 is titled; "Reducing Disruptive Communication in the Health Care Setting: Use of the Crew Resource Model (CRM)."Crew resource is a human factor-engineering model that creates uniform team roles and communication structure. This article advocates the use of this model to assist in dealing with disruptive behaviors by healthcare team professionals. The article advocates the use of the CRM model for meeting the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation requirement for organization's in which a plan is implemented for dealing with disruptive communication in the health care environment (by health care team professionals). Article 3 is titled; "Application of systems engineering to the hospital environment; has the time for a Nurse Engineer role arrived?" This article describes the evolution of systems engineering as a discipline and its historical application. The article stresses the need for Nurses to acquire an engineering skill set in order to participate in the redesign of clinical health systems, which will ensure efficiency and patient safety.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Nursing

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nursing

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Mack, Jonathan, PhD, MSN, ANP, RN

• bed projection tool
• communication
• Crew resource model
• Intensive Care Unit
• nursing
• Systems engineering science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/387

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-1390