SMARTDRAW IN BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT:

Improving Hospital Performance with SmartDraw

Creating data flow diagrams analyzing accounting processes

The Ailment
As Quality Director at Henderson Memorial Hospital, Sandra Fly is responsible for process improvement and clinical quality. She also ensures that the hospital runs in compliance with regulations set by the Joint Commission of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Medicare (CMS) and the Texas Department of Health (TDH).

"I wanted an easy way to outline our hospital practices using flowcharts, org charts, and cause-and-effect diagrams," said Fly.

Fly had considered using Microsoft Visio^®, but then she noticed that a previous manager had left a copy of another program behind: SmartDraw.

The Prognosis
Fly gave SmartDraw a try, and liked what she saw.

"SmartDraw was very easy for me to use, right from the beginning," she said.

SmartDraw offers easy, drag-and-drop drawing as well as thousands of symbols and templates. Among those, she found numerous specialized clip-art images for the medical community.

"The searchable symbol libraries and examples are great," she said. "And the templates are amazing!"

SmartDraw also offers a complete, pre-packaged solution for Business Process Management, featuring hundreds of templates and tutorials for objectives like performance improvement and project planning. Fly was able to use these templates to create professional-looking Cause-and-Effect diagrams.

"SmartDraw made this work very fast and efficient," she said.

The Right Medicine
Fly now uses SmartDraw daily.

"SmartDraw saves me up to an hour-and-a-half per chart!" she said.

Fly says she recommends SmartDraw to anyone who needs to create flowcharts, cause-and-effect diagrams, or other performance-improvement aids.

"It's fast, it's easy, and it saves me time," she said. "Not to mention, the results are great!"

The bottom line?

"SmartDraw helps me create visual aids to educate patients and staff," said Fly. "And education is vital to healthcare."