Using systems theories in healthcare
Why haven't theories and principles like lean thinking, queuing theory, and theory of constraints been used as much in healthcare as in the manufacturing and service industries? Healthcare practitioners and managers think that it's because the healthcare industry has simply been late in recognizing the potential benefits of using such theories for streamlining clinical processes. But I doubt the efficacy of such theories in understanding and solving problems in healthcare due to the fact that healthcare processes are very different from processes in manufacturing plants.
Take the emergency department, for instance. There have been numerous attempts to use queuing theory to model patient and process flows in EDs. But flows in emergency departments are different from the flow of goods in a manufacturing plant. In traditional manufacturing models, there is a linear flow of goods (operands) as they are operated upon by machines (operators). In an emergency department, not only do the operands (patients) move, but also many of the operators (doctors, nurses, CT scanners, X-ray machines etc.) are mobile. This leads to a much higher and different level of complexity than in a manufacturing plant. And so, even though several studies have reported successful modeling of emergency departments using queuing theory, I am not sure how appropriate it is to apply such theories to healthcare problems.
In 2005, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institure of Medicine partnered to publish the book "Building a Better Delivery System: A New Engineering/Healthcare Partnership" (National Academies Press). The book talks about how systems engineering tools, information and communication tools (ICTs) and knowledge from the field of business can be applied to improve quality of heathcare systems. I will be reading the book soon and posting my thoughts on it.
Take the emergency department, for instance. There have been numerous attempts to use queuing theory to model patient and process flows in EDs. But flows in emergency departments are different from the flow of goods in a manufacturing plant. In traditional manufacturing models, there is a linear flow of goods (operands) as they are operated upon by machines (operators). In an emergency department, not only do the operands (patients) move, but also many of the operators (doctors, nurses, CT scanners, X-ray machines etc.) are mobile. This leads to a much higher and different level of complexity than in a manufacturing plant. And so, even though several studies have reported successful modeling of emergency departments using queuing theory, I am not sure how appropriate it is to apply such theories to healthcare problems.
In 2005, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institure of Medicine partnered to publish the book "Building a Better Delivery System: A New Engineering/Healthcare Partnership" (National Academies Press). The book talks about how systems engineering tools, information and communication tools (ICTs) and knowledge from the field of business can be applied to improve quality of heathcare systems. I will be reading the book soon and posting my thoughts on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment