Making Room: A Human Factors Approach to Understanding Bed Flow

Patient flow is central to hospital operations, influencing safety, care quality, and resource use. At Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto a single Bed Board Coordinator (BBC), manages inpatient bed assignments. When bed assignment processes are inefficient, delays compound, increasing strain on patients and staff. This study presents a human factors analysis of the bed assignment process to identify gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. Findings reveal gaps in communication, coordination and access to information are barriers to bed assignments and highlight the need to consider both systemic and process interventions to mitigate pain points and improve bed management.