Improvement Insights Blog
How is a Hospital Like a Car Dealership?
I got a call from a QI Macros customer who works at a luxury car dealership. Customers were upset because their cars were spending too long in the shop. The dealership tracked the length of stay of every car, the symptoms and barriers to getting the car done when expected.
I was struck by the similarities between what he was describing and a hospital. Patients come in, get diagnosed, treated, admitted and eventually discharged. This is the same problem as the maintenance shop.
I asked if the maintenance department had information about the type of problem, missing parts, age of the car and so on. Seems like older cars might be harder to fix or it might be harder to find parts. I worked with a local muffler shop years ago. Older cars have more rust, so it’s harder to change the muffler and harder to find one.
The same is true of older patients I would imagine. And it has some variation because the patient has to heal themselves with a little help from physicians and nurses.
But essentially, it’s the same problem–reducing length of stay.
