Well, I made it to Las Vegas. My workshop, which focuses on how observation units fit into hospital wide patient flow studies starts in about an hour. Cara Strom has done a great job researching, recruiting and producing the event - and been very patient with me. The following is from the blurb on my session:

...attendees will learn the essentials of identifying patient flow bottlenecks that cause ED overcrowding and ambulance diversions. Patient flow data will be used to evaluate the need and potential benefits of implementing an Observation Unit in your hospital. Attendees will learn how to track and optimize patient flow with Observation Units.

My session is the last of three today, which I guess is the primo spot on the schedule since this is a pre-conference workshop and most everyone has come in this afternoon for tomorrow morning.

Most of the presenters are clinicians from places like the Cleveland Clinic, Strong Memorial, Hershey Medical Center and Tenet Healthcare. I will be blogging the conference tomorrow and Wednesday morning, so check back.