ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part covers myriad subjects as part of a holistic approach to true capacity optimization. The three major categories of this part are, in order of appearance, workplace culture, hospital capacity optimization, and community of care. Culture, especially in healthcare, is perhaps the dominant detractor to true capacity optimization. Largely because traditional accountability, wherein a boss or shop foreman can drive workers to be productive under a threat of firing or other punishment, simply does not work with highly educated resources such as nurses and doctors. Hospital capacity optimization section includes the optimization of "internal" hospital capacity and ability to care for as many patients as possible with a given amount of time and resources. While there are a host of available resources in any given community, most of them remain disconnected, even shunned, by hospital leaders.
