Lean management i högspecialiserad sjukvård

Sammanfattning: Background The queues within Swedish healthcare are presently unacceptably long. The demands and costs of healthcare have increased and are expected to rise in the future. This has resulted in a higher stress on all of the healthcares resources, from the financial aspect to the human. As with many other public establishments, Lund University Hospital has suffered from weak finances, which in the last few years have occasioned cutbacks and restructuring. In the shadow of these financial constraints new working procedures that create better results using existing resources are being pursued. In an attempt to improve healthcare for all parties concerned, the management at Lund University Hospital has chosen to introduce the philosophy of “lean” healthcare to the hospital’s administration. The waiting time for cardiac surgery is presently too long for certain patient groups. It is necessary for that reason to enhance the organization and the methods of working in a way that the accessible resources obtain optimal use. Cancellation of elective surgeries, long O.R. (operating room) changeover times and overtime work are some of the problems that the surgery ward at the department of cardiothoracic surgery has not yet solved. This leads to budgetary excesses, which is not acceptable. There currently exist several obvious challenges ready for the department to take up and that the management will now assign by introducing lean healthcare into the operation. Objectives The purpose of this paper is to accomplish a process mapping in and around the surgery ward at the department of cardiothoracic surgery with subsequent identification and suggested countermeasures with regard to quality deficiencies by using lean production. In identifying and eliminating quality deficiencies the aim is to be able to increase the utilization of resources and thereby minimize O.R. changeover times, decrease the number of cancelled elective surgeries and reduce the overtime work. Finally this paper will offer suggestions on how lean management could be implemented in and around the cardiothoracic surgery ward. Limitations The work is focused on the identification of quality deficiencies in the cardiothoracic surgery ward and the interface between the cardiothoracic surgery ward and adjacent activities such as ward 17 and ward 18, thorax intensive care unit, and surgery planning. This paper will accordingly not generally deal with quality deficiencies or proposed solutions within the adjacent hospital units. The process flow from heart conference through to the surgery planning and to the cardiothoracic surgery ward and further on to the thorax intensive care unit and the nursing ward is going to be described in its entirety. Methods The study’s integral parts have explorative as well as descriptive and illustrative directions. Because of the study’s scope a case study trial as well as a cross-section trial of the survey type has been accepted. Information collected during this study is primarily qualitative but has also quantitative aspects. The principal methods used for the collection of primary data have been personal interviews, direct observations and written forms. A diverse amount of secondary data has been collected and studied during the study’s course. Secondary data from specialist literature, web pages, internal documents, presentations, and the activity’s intranet have been reviewed in-depth. The choice of those practical data collection methods for this investigation have been carefully chosen with great consideration with a view to obtain the most reliable information. Conclusions The surgery ward at the department of cardiothoracic surgery has presented problems for a long time with amongst other things; long waiting lists, cancellation of elective surgeries, long O.R. changeover times and overtime work. In a thorough analysis of the activity it becomes clear that there are elements of multiple occurrences, which don’t exist, in a lean organization. There is a significant amount of non-value-adding use of resources in the activity, there lacks an incentive system, there is little standardization, and the visual control is defective. To put the problem right, a number of countermeasures are suggested in accordance with the principles of lean production. There follows a selection of these measures. The most significant and important is the implementation of independent and objective monitored teams in the surgery ward, which plans, organizes and carries out their own work independently. To create better visual control a web-based surgery planning application is recommended which is made available to all units involved. Also, the introduction of an incentive system is suggested which rewards industrious and creative collaborators. Recommendations are also made to standardize work during surgery and in the changeover between patients.