Improving the efficiency of hospital porter services, part 1: study objectives and results.

This article is the first of a 2-part series reporting the results of a 7-month study of porter operations at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Part 1 describes the importance of efficient porter services, the system's operation at the time of the study, the challenges faced in carrying out the study, the performance measures developed, the recommendations, and the outcomes. Part 2 describes the simulation model that measured the impact of system changes and the linear programming model developed to improve porter schedules.