When it comes to healthcare, the idea of lean management is frequently misinterpreted. Lean, for instance, is a euphemism for cost-cutting, according to some. However, that is not at all the case. The goal of lean in healthcare is to create value and lessen the daily difficulties that employees and patients face. Therefore, lean organizations prioritize maintaining high levels of quality, safety, happiness, and morale over cost reduction. They accomplish this by uniting all employees behind a common management framework and utilizing it to continuously propose, test, and execute process enhancements. Cost reductions are frequently a result of lean management, even if they are not its primary goal. After all, time and other resources are typically saved when tasks and procedures are redesigned to better care. Other advantages may include lowering the causes of burnout and assisting employees in feeling more engaged and empowered.
Lean, Six Sigma, and other titles that are applied to quality-improvement ideas are ultimately less significant than the ideas and tactics they stand for. Numerous industries have tried and tested these ideas and tactics. They have enormous potential to assist and motivate employees at all levels, help businesses maintain patient safety and satisfaction, and help them maintain long-term success in the healthcare industry.
Introduction of lean management in healthcare
John Krafcik first used the term “lean” in 1988, and it was first used in the manufacturing industry. “Systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous improvement by flowing the product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection” is how James Womack and colleagues defined lean more generally in 1996. The Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) developed the Triple Aim of US Healthcare. It offers a useful framework that encourages healthcare systems to enhance population health, patient experience, and per capita costs all at once. Although lean has established models, each firm needs to adapt these models to fit its situation. Success requires developing a mindset of continuous improvement at every level. Care delivery can be significantly changed by implementing lean healthcare techniques properly.
Time is precious, and every second matters at hospitals where the patient waits restlessly for their turn, nurses rush between hospitals, and doctors discuss critical cases. Lean healthcare is one of the mechanisms by which care could be delivered, and how we could restore sanity to the insanity. Suppose a patient ended up in an emergency room and has severe pain in the stomach. A conventional healthcare system may have them waiting long, filling unnecessary forms, and experiencing rivalry between different departments. However, lean healthcare minimizes delays by promptly triaging the patient and assigning them to a specialized care team while adhering to established protocols.
Six principles of lean healthcare
Applying lean healthcare principles requires a greater emphasis on collaboration and teamwork. Lean ideas should be applied more effectively in healthcare practices. They must seek methods to identify areas for improvement and make use of data to support them. Your clinic may provide high-quality, waste-free care in a stable, balanced setting by implementing lean healthcare concepts.
1. Value
It is also important to know what is helpful to treat patients from their point of view. In this concept, emphasis is placed upon the identification of existing medical services that may improve the care of patients and satisfaction levels among patients. Focusing on the needs of the patients, healthcare professionals will be able to kill off practices that are ineffective and increase the overall experience of the patient.
2. Value stream mapping
Value stream mapping displays every stage of a procedure to identify and eliminate waste. From the time patients come until they go, we can examine the entire procedure. This aids healthcare providers in streamlining processes and guaranteeing that patients navigate the system with ease.
3. Flow
This idea facilitates the seamless operation of all healthcare procedures. Additionally, it can draw attention to the continuous movement of patients, their data, and prescription drugs or medical supplies. Healthcare procedures can reduce wait times and enhance services by eliminating all issues and delays.
4. Pull
With a pull system, people receive healthcare services according to their needs rather than according to prearranged timetables or appointments. Better patient care and resource management result from this idea, which also helps avoid overproduction and ensures that all resources are used appropriately and effectively.
5. Perfection
Strive to make every healthcare procedure better. It urges every healthcare provider to constantly seek ways of improving quality, reducing mistakes, and increasing efficiency.
6. Greetings to all people
A thorough understanding of the importance of appreciating and granting credit to all team members in the healthcare facility is essential in ensuring that the establishment is able to perform quality care to all patients. The style aims at creating a positive working environment where employees are free to share concepts on how they want to improve the processes. A good culture in healthcare businesses will help in the satisfaction of staff members and patient care.
Top 5 lean methodologies
Understanding how to apply lean approaches is crucial for improving patient care, streamlining processes, and reducing waste. These are some of the several approaches that are employed to improve the healthcare system.
1. Value stream mapping (VSM)
Healthcare professionals examine every phase of the patient journey while creating a value stream map. This displays each stage’s value-added and non-value-added components. Value-added measures, like testing to determine the cause of the problem and recovery treatments, make patients feel better. Activities that waste time and don’t contribute to better care are considered non-value-added processes. Patients waiting for appointments or having to complete extensive paperwork are two examples. The healthcare team can rethink workflows to optimize value-added activities and reduce waste by using this aerial perspective. Higher-quality, quicker, and more seamless encounters are advantageous to patients. Better use of resources and lower prices are advantageous to providers. Everyone benefits from more intelligent care delivery.
2. Kaizen
Kaizen is the practice of continuously seeking methods to get better. It entails all members of an organization cooperating to implement everyday, minor adjustments. Process simplification and waste elimination are the objectives. In the medical field, kaizen can improve patient flow in a clinic. Every step of the patient journey, from checking in to seeing the doctor to checking out, is planned by a team. They identify issues or sluggish areas in every step and come up with solutions to streamline the procedure. This might be as simple as adding signage or rearranging furniture. Making tiny adjustments frequently rather than large ones all at once is what kaizen is all about.
3. Just in time (JIT)
When handling medications and supplies, healthcare workers might apply the Just-In-Time (JIT) technique. Healthcare practitioners can purchase medications and medical equipment depending on what they actually utilize on a daily basis, rather than hoarding a lot of additional supplies based on assumptions about what will be needed later. The number of prescriptions dispensed daily for particular medications can be tracked by a clinic pharmacy. To satisfy this need, it can then place further orders with suppliers. This keeps medications from expiring and from being overordered. Additionally, it reduces inventory expenses and the need for storage. The secret is to have a responsive ordering procedure and a precise grasp of everyday needs.
4. Root cause analysis
RCA helps us to understand what caused a pharmaceutical error. In a case where the patient has taken the wrong amount of drug, say it is an overdose, the medical personnel investigate the circumstances under which such a miscalculation took place. They can learn that employees could not understand, nurses did a large amount of work, or labels did not make sense on the medicines. By recognizing the root cause, the hospital can adjust the protocols for handoffs, change labels, or modify nurses’ scheduling to improve it. This enhances patient safety and prevents the occurrence of this pharmaceutical error in the future.
5. Poka-yoke
Poka-Yoke will help healthcare facilities reduce medical errors that endanger the lives of patients. These would be surgical checklists to make sure all the equipment is available, or barcode scanning to make sure the patient is given the right drug and the right dose, or warning alarms when the wrong dosage gets entered in the IV pumps. These simple procedures help the staff members not to commit errors that may risk the lives of the patients.
End up
You can focus on reducing waste and optimizing processes to enhance operations using lean healthcare. Better treatment for patients could come from this. Prioritizing the patient improves care quality and gives your medical practice more freedom. It may preserve profitability while improving service delivery by optimizing patient flow.
Additionally, Oxford Training Centre offers specialized Healthcare Management Training Courses designed to enhance leadership skills and operational expertise for healthcare professionals.
Participants gain cutting-edge insights into healthcare administration, policy, and quality management to advance their careers in the health sector.