A waste walk through clinical pharmacy: how do the ‘seven wastes’ of Lean techniques apply to the practice of clinical pharmacists†‡

Abstract

Observation of clinical pharmacists' activities has identified that a significant proportion of their time could be categorised as 'waste'. There are practical steps that could be implemented in order to ensure their time is used as productively as possible. Given the challenges facing the UK National Health Service, the adoption of 'Lean' techniques provides an opportunity to improve quality and productivity while reducing costs.

Application of COM-B model as a support to Lean Healthcare diagnostic – the case of Pharmaceutical Assistance Process

“…Other studies have also reported the role of the pharmacist in activities of lower added value, to a 23.8% extent (Green et al, 2015), 25% (Curatolo et al, 2014) and 40.3% (Fisher et al, 2016). Jenkins and Eckel (2012) managed to reduce by 47% the time spent by the pharmacist in less complex technical activities, increasing the time spent in activities focused on direct patient contact.…”

Pengaruh Waste Dengan Pendekatan Lean Hospital Terhadap Pengendalian Biaya Kualitas dan Produksi

“…Waste didefinisikan sebagai penggunaan sumber daya yang tidak menambah value apapun pada produk (Sayyida, Fahma, & Iftadi, 2018). Terdapat tujuh kelompok waste yang perlu diidentifikasi menggunakan lean tools yaitu over production, defects, unnecessary inventory, inappropriate processing, excessive transportation, waiting, dan unnecessary motion (Costa & Filho, 2016;Green, Crawford, Bresnen, & Rowe, 2015;Sigalingging, Tama, & Riawati, 2014). Identifikasi waste akan menentukan metode yang diperlukan untuk melakukan penghilangan waste (Radnor, Holweg, & Waring, 2012).…”

Pharmacist Clinical Process Improvement: Applying Lean Principles in a Tertiary Care Setting

“…In a Lean "waste walk" study, in which 20 clinical pharmacists were observed and their activities categorized as waste or non-waste, 23.8% of observations were categorized as waste. 4 Although the study identified potential wastes, it did not implement any steps to improve efficiency. Other projects investigating the potential impact of Lean on clinical pharmacists have shown that benefits in the dispensary process will free up time for clinical work, but the authors have not discussed how to improve efficiency.…”

“…3 Workflow improvements result from identifying and reducing wastes, where major waste categories include defects, motion, transportation, overprocessing, overproduction, inventory, unused talent, and waiting. 2,4 Using Lean methodology in health care to look for (and then eliminate) wastes is not new.…”