Abstract
Healthcare services, in particular, are one of the areas in which Lean can be applied and benefits can be reached through it. In order to analyze the suitability of Lean implementation in healthcare units, this research focused on a case study, namely in Hospital of Santo António emergency area, in the city of Porto, Portugal. The study was conducted in the year 2020, during the pandemic of COVID-19, which forced the change of screening processes. This research analyses and compares the new and previous sorting model and discusses if Lean methodology was applied. It was concluded, through data collected in the interview to the leading nurse, that despite de fact she is not familiar with the Lean concept and methodology, as process simplification and time reduction were taken into account, the new process can be considered Lean. The flow charts that reflect both the sorting structure used in the urgencies before and after were developed. Hospital culture, lack of communication before the new process implementation, and the facilities were some of the identified barriers.
TopProcess Management
Process management consists of measuring, designing and aligning activities. Its importance occurs when we need to visualize in a clear and cohesive way the activities of an organization. A process is a sequence of activities with a specific objective (Campos, 2014). When organized as a set, in a structured way, they create a pre-established work routine guiding employees to perform their tasks correctly and on time to meet the expectations of internal and external customers of the organization, which are part of the strategic planning (Rebouças, 2007).
Focusing on improving service delivery, the management of processes and flows in companies has been a great tool for achieving excellence in customer service. Understanding what processes are and visualizing them as components of a chain leads to improvement of the performed tasks (Chopra & Meindl, 2011). Failures in the interaction between workflows and developed activities or unstructured processes may compromise the entire organization generating an unsatisfactory result. Processes are parallel activities with a common purpose and poor management can affect the entire work chain (Chopra & Meindl, 2011).
In the context of services, due to their immateriality and intangibility, it becomes more difficult to measure the quality of the deliveries (della Volpi & Paulino, 2018). The proximity of the final consumer and his participation during the service production process brings a different perspective from manufacturing, due to the close contact to the need to strengthen the training and the standardization of processes (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2014). The management of processes in the context of services requires greater attention as to their execution, consumption and response time, which are immediate and where any failure becomes evident very easily. Such situations may lead to a breach of reliability in the relationship, which is not re-established in a short period of time.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Bizagi Software: Process mapping software used by organizations to create and document business processes to gain a better understanding of each step and identify process improvement opportunities to increase organizational efficiency.
Lean: A management process which focuses on improving communication and all the value chain, by compacting tasks in order to reduce deadlines and improve quality.
Lean Healthcare: The process of analyzing and guiding internal and external workflows to continuous improvement, in healthcare units such as hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.
Manchester Triage System: A system developed by the Manchester Triage Group, to automatically calculates the severity of the user and separates him/her with colored wristbands where each color represents the level of severity and predicts waiting time.
COVID-19: A global pandemic or coronavirus disease 2019, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2).