Abstract
The principles of lean are widely being adopted in the healthcare sector.
Interestingly the realized benefits appear not to warrant the interest from managers
and policy makers.
This paper presents an analysis of 3 Danish healthcare organizations which all
introduced lean initiatives. However, only a limited set of tools has been used and
the productivity gains are limited focusing on peripheral activities and not the core
medical activities.
This apparent problem with lean in health care is hypothesized to be caused by
1) the nature of healthcare work, 2) the rationality and notion of validity among
different groups of healthcare professionals and 3) different rationalities in lean and
professionals in healthcare.
Through analysis of three cases it is concluded that the nature of work is
significantly different from manufacturing primarily because of the reactive nature
of work. Finally, different rationalities are observed between different groups of
healthcare professionals leading to problems employing the lean tool-box.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Advances in Occupational, Social, and Organizational Ergonomics |
| Number of pages | 860 |
| Place of Publication | Boca Raton |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Pages | 335-345 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781439835074 |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
| Event | 3rd International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics - Intercontinental , Miami, United States Duration: 17 Jul 2010 → 20 Jul 2010 Conference number: 3 |
Conference
| Conference | 3rd International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics |
|---|---|
| Number | 3 |
| Location | Intercontinental |
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Miami |
| Period | 17/07/2010 → 20/07/2010 |