Utilizing Lean Principles to Improve Immunization Administration Efficiency in a Pediatric Mobile Clinic Program

Pediatric Quality & Safety
Aditi GuptaMargaret Ugalde

Abstract

Mobile clinics are vital health care delivery systems because they provide care to those who may not have access otherwise. Unfortunately, clinic flow on mobile clinics is often chaotic and inherently inefficient. Lean is a customer-centric methodology used in industries like health care to continuously improve processes by eliminating waste. The purpose of this project was to use lean principles to improve efficiency, as measured by total time spent receiving services, so that more underserved patients could receive needed immunizations. Using a certified lean expert, lean principles were applied to the mobile clinic program to uniformly organize the program, simplify registration processes, and standardize clinic procedures. Time study data were collected prospectively on a total of 309 patients for 2-week periods both before and after application of lean principles. Staff used a standardized time study form to record patient visit times. Pre- and postintervention data were analyzed using unpaired t tests and nonparametric Mann-Whitney tests as deemed appropriate. Using lean principles significantly reduced total times spent for 1-, 2-, and 4-children families. Wait times for 1- and 4-children families were also significantly...Continue Reading

References

May 16, 2009·Patient Education and Counseling·Rebecca L SudoreDean Schillinger
Jun 6, 2009·BMC Medicine·Nancy E OriolIsaac Kohane
Aug 22, 2009·International Journal for Quality in Health Care : Journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care·Tom JoostenRichard Janssen
Jun 21, 2015·American Journal of Health-system Pharmacy : AJHP : Official Journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists·Matthew H LammLindsey B Amerine
Aug 8, 2015·The Journal of Nursing Administration·Marlena KaneDavid Pickham

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