One of the most respected hospital institutions in Latin America, internationally recognized for clinical excellence, technological innovation, and social impact, continues to lead progress in healthcare by prioritizing quality of care and efficient management. With more than 60 years of history, this philanthropic organization operates hospital, outpatient, education, and research units, and is a benchmark in high-complexity medicine, teaching, and the generation of scientific knowledge.
Always at the forefront of healthcare innovation, the institution is driven by continuous improvement. In one of its emergency care centers, the organization identified an opportunity to deepen its understanding of installed capacity and the use of critical resources such as medical teams, beds, and care areas. In partnership with EYF, it pursued a strategic solution to optimize operational capacity and ensure rising demand could be met efficiently while maintaining established quality standards.
Solutions
EYF developed a tailored solution for the hospital environment, focused on capacity planning and evaluating different operational strategies for the emergency care unit. The digital model created enabled the team to test multiple care scenarios, considering varying demand volumes, patient length of stay, and the allocation of medical, nursing, and support staff. This approach made it possible to precisely visualize the operational impacts of each scenario, anticipate bottlenecks, and test mitigation strategies without compromising quality of care.
In addition to sizing key resources, such as the ideal number of beds, care rooms, and staffing schedules, the solution provided an integrated, data-driven view to support more accurate strategic decisions. The model became part of the institution’s planning routine, serving as a continuous management support platform capable of sustaining new analyses, validating future improvements, and supporting decisions with greater safety and efficiency.
Results
After detailed mapping of the current state and identification of the main improvement opportunities, the solution focused on two strategic pillars:
Workforce sizing, designed to define the ideal staffing levels by time-of-day, ensuring adequate coverage for key compliance indicators (LOS, door-to-triage time, and door-to-physician time). Physical layout adjustments, proposing a temporary configuration to support the FT renovation without compromising operational flow or care quality. Applying the proposed solutions delivered tangible gains across several important operational indicators. Highlights include:
4.3% reduction in total patient length of stay (LOS), with a lower share of visits lasting more than 4 hours; 19.2% improvement in door-to-triage time (TPT), enabling faster, more effective triage; 16.8% reduction in door-to-physician time (TPM), directly improving clinical response speed; Fewer out-of-standard occurrences, such as TPT greater than 5 minutes (-2.4%) and TPM greater than 25 minutes (-4.3%); 4.5% reduction in weekly workload, while maintaining operational capacity, evidence of efficiency gains. These results demonstrate the impact of the implemented approach, improving both speed of care and resource utilization, reinforcing the strategic value of the methodology adopted.
Impact
Implementing the solution developed in partnership with EYF delivered tangible benefits for the institution’s planning and operational management. With the ability to test scenarios and make decisions based on real data, leadership gained a strategic tool to size resources, anticipate bottlenecks, and adjust processes with greater safety and agility.
This data-driven approach resulted in a more balanced operation, better workforce allocation, stronger adherence to compliance indicators, and a significant improvement in patient experience. Beyond optimizing current flows, the solution also established a solid foundation for continuous planning, enabling the institution to prepare more effectively for the future, even under high-demand scenarios.
The project reinforces the institution’s commitment to care excellence and positions it at the forefront of digital transformation in the healthcare sector.
Implementing the solution developed in partnership with EYF brought a significant transformation in how the hospital institution conducts its planning and operational management. By enabling the evaluation of different scenarios and grounding decisions in real data, leadership gained a reliable tool to size resources, anticipate bottlenecks, and validate changes safely.
This data-driven approach improved care efficiency, ensured greater adherence to compliance indicators, and optimized staffing allocation, even in a highly dynamic and challenging environment such as emergency care. In addition to optimizing current processes, the solution established a strong foundation for continuous planning, allowing the institution to prepare strategically for the future.
The result is a more balanced, flexible, and efficient operation, ready to respond quickly to growing demand while maintaining the commitment to quality of care and the excellence that has made it a healthcare reference in Brazil.
The solution transformed the institution’s operational management by providing concrete data to support faster, safer, and more effective decisions. The team began planning with greater precision, optimizing existing resources and proactively preparing for future challenges.
This new approach strengthened the institution’s ability to:
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Anticipate bottlenecks and adjust staffing schedules efficiently
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Ensure compliance with critical operational indicators
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Plan expansion based on real data and scenario analysis
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Sustain excellence in care even under high demand
The analysis performed using the developed solution revealed that 75% of patient time was dedicated to direct care, while 23% corresponded to waiting periods and only 2% to internal movement. Among the main drivers of waiting time, staff unavailability stood out, responsible for more than 70% of the identified delays.
The study showed that the most critical staff groups for the operation were: FT3 Administration, Surgical Nursing Technician, Orthopedics Technician, and FT Physician. Their unavailability was associated both with consistently high occupancy levels and with specific peaks during periods of higher demand.
After mapping the occupancy of all staff groups, the analysis identified significant imbalances: while some professionals reached occupancy rates of up to 97%, others operated at only 19%. This highlighted a clear opportunity to rebalance teams and redistribute resources more intelligently, improving flow and operational efficiency.
In addition, long internal travel distances within the patient flow were found to directly affect operational agility. As a result, the solution also included a layout study, proposing strategic adjustments to reduce unnecessary movement and optimize the use of physical space.
With the development of the solution, it was identified that 75% of the time patients are receiving care, 23% are waiting, and only 2% are in transit.
On average, more than 70% of waiting time is due to the unavailability of the required staff. The solution showed that the staff groups primarily responsible for this waiting are: FT3 Administration, Surgical Nursing Technician, Orthopedics Technician, and FT Physician. The cause may be consistently high occupancy or demand peaks at certain times.
The solution mapped the occupancy of all staff groups in the department and indicated that there were staff members (some physicians and nursing technicians) with high occupancy, some at approximately 97% of the time, while others were at 19% occupancy. This highlighted the opportunity for balancing and redistributing resources.
The solution also found that patient flow time was impacted by long internal distances, which led to a layout study to optimize the unit’s configuration.