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Healthcare Engineering: A Lean Management Approach | JoVE Visualize

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Engineering

Healthcare Engineering: A Lean Management Approach

Abdallah A Abdallah¹

¹School of Applied Technical Sciences, The German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan.

Journal of Healthcare Engineering|October 21, 2020

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Lean management tools can improve healthcare by focusing on leadership, employee training, and physician involvement. Successful implementation in Jordanian hospitals led to significant reductions in cycle time and operational costs.

Area of Science:

Healthcare Management
Operations Research
Industrial Engineering

Background:

Lean management, successful in manufacturing, shows mixed results in the service sector.
Healthcare professionals have attempted Lean implementation for two decades with varying success.
Understanding healthcare's unique service nature is crucial for Lean adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine if healthcare can be engineered using Lean management tools.
To identify success factors and barriers to Lean implementation in healthcare.
To develop and test a Lean implementation framework for hospitals.

Main Methods:

Literature review on Lean in healthcare.
Survey of 18 elite Jordanian hospitals.
Development and application of a Lean implementation framework with engineering tools.

Main Results:

Organizational leadership, employee knowledge, training, and patient satisfaction are key success factors.
Physician education and involvement in continuous improvement are critical, as identified from the survey.
The developed Lean framework successfully reduced cycle time by 60% and operational costs by 80% in a pilot hospital.

Conclusions:

Healthcare can be effectively engineered using Lean management principles.
A tailored Lean implementation framework, emphasizing leadership and physician engagement, is essential for success.
Lean adoption offers substantial operational and cost benefits in the healthcare sector.

Engineering Practice And Education

Systems Engineering

Healthcare Engineering: A Lean Management Approach