Implementation of Lean Management in a Multi-Specialist Hospital in Poland and the Analysis of Waste

Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century, Lean Management (LM) tools were introduced into the healthcare sector around the world. In Poland, there are still few LM implementations, and they are not of a comprehensive nature. The aim of this article is to present the application of the LM concept in a hospital in Poland as a tool for the identification and analysis of waste and its impact on the process of organizing the provision of medical services on the example of improvements in the process of patient admission. In the period from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2019, a project of LM implementation was carried out at the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Wroclaw. The project was based on the method of value-stream mapping and 5Why. Standardized interviews (before and after the project) were conducted with people from the hospital management and middle-level managers. The implementation of LM tools resulted in the identification of a number of wastes, which have been divided into groups. The most important waste was paper medical documentation. Its change to an electronic form allowed for a better use of human capital resources; savings included 2.3 nursing positions and 1.09 medical staff positions.

The Effectiveness of Healthcare System Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

“…We use the provided information to plan, organise or to motivate employees to action. An important function of information is integration of jointly undertaken tasks and exchange of experiences [111]. The quality of information impacts work satisfaction and quality of cooperation within the team [112].…”

“…An important element of resilience is also ensuring appropriate financing of the Health Care System, which should translate into, among others, provision of adequate remuneration [111] and the possibility of making urgent purchases during a crisis situation [12]. This will have an impact on mobilisation of the personnel to action, and therefore will have a significant impact on maintaining the stable operation of the system.…”

Implementation of Lean Management Tools Using an Example of Analysis of Prolonged Stays of Patients in a Multi-Specialist Hospital in Poland

“…The study was a continuation of the project completed at the J. Gromkowski Provincial Specialist Hospital in Wroclaw in 2019 and presented in the article titled Implementation of Lean Management in a Multi-Specialist Hospital in Poland and the Analysis of Waste [18]. During the project, several wastes were identified, which most frequently included seeking and explaining, waiting and overproduction.…”

Applying Value Stream Mapping to Improve the Delivery of Patient Care in the Oncology Day Hospital

“…The use of lean in the health sector is known as lean healthcare. Lean healthcare has recently seen numerous applications in healthcare institutions [ 31 ] such as hospitals [ 32 , 33 ], clinics [ 34 , 35 ], and medical centers [ 36 , 37 ]. Dahlgaard, Pettersen, and Dahlgaard-Park [ 38 ] describe lean healthcare as a management philosophy that develops a culture characterized by increased satisfaction for patients and other stakeholders through continuous improvements, in which all employees actively participate in identifying and reducing non-value-adding activities (i.e., waste or “ muda ”).…”

“…Despite the growing number of empirical research articles [ 20 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 48 ] and literature reviews on lean healthcare [ 20 , 30 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], few applications are reported in the Spanish National Healthcare System (NHS) [ 55 ]. This may be explained by the singular characteristics of the Spanish NHS that differ from other European healthcare systems [ 55 ].…”