BENEFITS OF USING LEAN PRINCIPLES IN PATIENT CARE DELIVERY

Soon K. Cao
Patrick Jaska
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
ABSTRACT
A health care crisis has emerged in the United States. For decades, there has been a growing concern for the medical safety and delivery of patient care. In this paper, the Toyota Production System (TPS) will be explored to focus on improving quality and efficiency in health care delivery. TPS emphasizes lean principles and tools aimed at removing waste and inefficiency. The intent of this study is twofold: 1) To determine whether lean principles can play a fundamental role in the efficiency of health care delivery system specifically in specimen, mail, and package delivery services in a hospital setting, and 2) To explore whether employees throughout the organization should actively engage in the continuous improvement efforts necessary to implement and sustain lean principles. The findings of this study show that lean principles such as centralization and standardization of processes can dramatically improve the efficiency, workflow, and the quality of delivery services in the healthcare system. The organizational barriers such as culture, resistance from staff, and lack of involvement can be overcome by mapping out the ideal future state of delivery services.