Managerial process improvement: a lean approach to eliminating medication delivery
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
ISSN: 0952-6862
Article publication date: 9 February 2015
Abstract
Purpose
Statistical evidence shows that medication errors are a major cause of injuries that concerns all health care oganizations. Despite all the efforts to improve the quality of care, the lack of understanding and inability of management to design a robust system that will strategically target those factors is a major cause of distress. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Achieving optimum organizational performance requires two key variables; work process factors and human performance factors. The approach is that healthcare administrators must take in account both variables in designing a strategy to reduce medication errors. However, strategies that will combat such phenomena require that managers and administrators understand the key factors that are causing medication delivery errors.
Findings
The authors recommend that healthcare organizations implement the Toyota Production System (TPS) combined with human performance improvement (HPI) methodologies to eliminate medication delivery errors in hospitals.
Originality/value
Despite all the efforts to improve the quality of care, there continues to be a lack of understanding and the ability of management to design a robust system that will strategically target those factors associated with medication errors. This paper proposes a solution to an ambiguous workflow process using the TPS combined with the HPI system.
Keywords
Citation
Hussain, A., Stewart, L.M., Rivers, P.A. and Munchus, G. (2015), "Managerial process improvement: a lean approach to eliminating medication delivery", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 55-63. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-08-2013-0102
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited