A Framework for Clinical Healthcare Process Design: Investigating Applicability to Lean

<p>Healthcare delivery is a process-driven sequence of patient care treatments and services. A prescribed method for process design is required in order for healthcare organizations of the future not just to innovate, but to safely provide highly-reliable patient care. Some healthcare organizations have established the utilization of lean methodologies as a tool for process improvement. Other philosophies and methods such as Six-Sigma have also been introduced into hospitals to guide quality. Many of these efforts have provided theories or perspectives of quality improvement without being firmly connected to a model of application relative to clinical process design, process formulation, or process readiness. Hospitals often fail to recognize this gap and subsequently roll out multiple overarching quality improvement initiatives. This research examines some of the methods and activities of continuous healthcare improvement that frame clinical process design. In addition to providing an overview of current activities and methods, this research will explore to what extent standardized models for process design were followed in the course of using lean or other quality improvement initiatives. The research will conclude with a recommended best practice discussion for a healthcare process design framework and future applicability to the work of code blue standardization.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Architectural and Manufacturing Sciences

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Ellsworth, Samuel Blake

Contributors dc:contributor

• Muhammad Jahan (Director), Lorraine Bormann, Daniel Jackson

• lean
• healthcare
• process engineering
• Health Services Administration
• Medicine and Health Sciences
• Public Health

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1458

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-2462