engleski

Hospital Pharmacy Layout Optimisation Using Lean Management Principles

The pressure on the public sector to increase its efficiency and reduce costs did not avoid government hospitals. In addition to reducing costs, new national goals define shortening of wait times and elimination of activities that do not create value for the patient as key performance indicators affecting the quality of the healthcare service. These goals mentioned serve as a motivation to apply lean management principles in the healthcare sector. Lean principles have long since surpassed its exclusive use in the automotive industry and the manufacturing sector which has been confirmed by the results of an application of lean principles in the healthcare sector in other countries. From the organizational and infrastructural perspective, hospitals are complex systems whose quality and efficiency depend on the interaction of the various processes. One of the three basic processes in a hospital is a logistic process of the hospital pharmacy which includes activities of procurement, storage and distribution of medicines. This paper presents the early results of an action research project to apply the principles of Lean management with the focus on optimisation of the order picking process in a hospital pharmacy and medical consumables warehouse. Action research project included four steps: (1) current state mapping, (2) time and motion study, (3) development of the future state using an analytical model of order picking process and (4) development of an implementation plan. Results showed potential to reduce total order picking time as well as reduction of travel distances per one work order. Consequently, this will improve flexibility and efficiency of the hospital pharmacy department.

Lean healthcare; lean logistics; order picking; optimisation; public hospitals

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