There are four steps that are necessary to improve patient and process flows: understand patient demand, align capacity and resources with demand, use debottlenecking approaches to improve throughput, and then manage patient and asset flows through tracking systems. Each of these requires the application of quantitative techniques that use data to drive decision making.

What are four scenarios in health care where lines or queues exist? How can the four steps to improve patient and process flow be applied in each of the four scenarios and what quantitative data could be used to measure the outcomes?