Example 2: Non-Value Added Improvements
Customer services or manufacturing processes have always been demonstrated as relatively slow when providing a tangible product to consumers. And there is no better example of similarities to manufacturing in healthcare than a clinical laboratory. Leisurely practices are prone to poor healthcare value which drives down patient satisfaction and drives up costs, hence affecting an entities profitable margin.
Laboratory experts can define two phases of value when discussing the production of laboratory testing as either value-added or non-value added. Generally, value added is only beneficial when a patient or providers recognizes laboratory revisions, that new changes transform the medical data outcomes, …show more content…
These occurrences are labeled as non-value-added waste.[15] A classic example is at the recollection of a patient sample. The patient expects to pay for the analysis of a blood specimen, for instance, but does not want to pay for the corrections caused by the errors of a hospital. A key step in making an organization more economical efficient is the discernment and elimination of non-valued-added activities.
Authorities of the American Society of Quality have identified a few causes of non-value added waste and they are listed s they would apply to a clinical laboratory[15]:
Over-testing - defined as testing more than what is needed or moving a specimen faster than what is needed to the next phase of testing;
Excess motion - this can be caused by poor laboratory layout including bad positioning of laboratory supplies and equipment;
Waiting - is typically caused by such events as waiting on delayed supply shipments, long preparation time, missing scientist/technicians, waiting on refluxed results from other divisions, and, perhaps more importantly, personnel demoralization;
Inventory - is probably the largest non-value added issue, when inventories of laboratory supplies, patient samples, or pending-tests are improperly maintained, costs are incurred …show more content…
Most laboratory employees have ideas that would improve processes if implemented. Standard managers or laboratory structures sometime are designed to subdue ideas.
Of course, the above list is just a few examples tied to possible laboratory waste. Typical goals for eliminating non-value added activities should place a laboratory director into questioning everything; including intrinsic values. For the most part, steps in testing processes that are commonly deemed a necessity are often instead littered with improvement opportunities.
A primary real world example of eliminating non-value-added waste was performed by Vojislav Stoilijkovic` et al. with their LSS analyzes of a microbiology laboratory in Siberia.[16] Vojislav’s laboratory contracted with two French consulting companies and applied typical LSS tools to a paradigmatic sample process. The LSS tools utilized were lean 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, Visual Management, Takt Time, and Value Stream Mapping. As show in the before and after figures below, their modifications in the sample analysis process led to significant reduction in waste and increased streamlining in efficiency. Figure 4. Figure
Customer services or manufacturing processes have always been demonstrated as relatively slow when providing a tangible product to consumers. And there is no better example of similarities to manufacturing in healthcare than a clinical laboratory. Leisurely practices are prone to poor healthcare value which drives down patient satisfaction and drives up costs, hence affecting an entities profitable margin.
Laboratory experts can define two phases of value when discussing the production of laboratory testing as either value-added or non-value added. Generally, value added is only beneficial when a patient or providers recognizes laboratory revisions, that new changes transform the medical data outcomes, …show more content…
These occurrences are labeled as non-value-added waste.[15] A classic example is at the recollection of a patient sample. The patient expects to pay for the analysis of a blood specimen, for instance, but does not want to pay for the corrections caused by the errors of a hospital. A key step in making an organization more economical efficient is the discernment and elimination of non-valued-added activities.
Authorities of the American Society of Quality have identified a few causes of non-value added waste and they are listed s they would apply to a clinical laboratory[15]:
Over-testing - defined as testing more than what is needed or moving a specimen faster than what is needed to the next phase of testing;
Excess motion - this can be caused by poor laboratory layout including bad positioning of laboratory supplies and equipment;
Waiting - is typically caused by such events as waiting on delayed supply shipments, long preparation time, missing scientist/technicians, waiting on refluxed results from other divisions, and, perhaps more importantly, personnel demoralization;
Inventory - is probably the largest non-value added issue, when inventories of laboratory supplies, patient samples, or pending-tests are improperly maintained, costs are incurred …show more content…
Most laboratory employees have ideas that would improve processes if implemented. Standard managers or laboratory structures sometime are designed to subdue ideas.
Of course, the above list is just a few examples tied to possible laboratory waste. Typical goals for eliminating non-value added activities should place a laboratory director into questioning everything; including intrinsic values. For the most part, steps in testing processes that are commonly deemed a necessity are often instead littered with improvement opportunities.
A primary real world example of eliminating non-value-added waste was performed by Vojislav Stoilijkovic` et al. with their LSS analyzes of a microbiology laboratory in Siberia.[16] Vojislav’s laboratory contracted with two French consulting companies and applied typical LSS tools to a paradigmatic sample process. The LSS tools utilized were lean 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, Visual Management, Takt Time, and Value Stream Mapping. As show in the before and after figures below, their modifications in the sample analysis process led to significant reduction in waste and increased streamlining in efficiency. Figure 4. Figure