Improving Quality through Value Stream Mapping A Case Study of a Physicians Clinic英文文献.pdfVIP

Total Quality Management Vol. 17, No. 8, 1063–1075, October 2006 Improving Quality through Value Stream Mapping: A Case Study of a Physician’s Clinic RHONDA R. LUMMUS, ROBERT J. VOKURKA BRAD RODEGHIERO† Iowa State University, Ames, USA; Texas AM University – Corpus Christi, Texas, USA; †Goodrich Corporation, Turbine Fuel Technologies, Greenville, South Carolina, USA ABSTRACT As organizations look to improve overall systems to reduce costs and improve throughput, lean principles are being more widely implemented. These lean initiatives began in manufacturing, but have spread through other parts of the economy, including health care. This paper reports on a value stream mapping project in a small medical clinic that resulted in recommendations that would significantly lower patient wait time and increase patient throughput. The new system can increase the capacity of the office without adding people or equipment, lower waiting times for people with scheduled appointments, increase the opportunity for patients without appointments to be seen at the last minute, and lower the stress levels for the clinic’s staff. KEY WORDS : Value stream mapping, lean processes, health care Introduction The need to provide customers with more value and at the same time reduce waste is a constant for any firm or organization. Those concepts form the basis for what is known as lean thinking. Lean thinking is focused on creating a perfect process of value creation in product development and operations; along with the supporting processes within organizations. Based on the Toyota Production System, Womack and Jones identified five principles of lean thinking (Womack, 2002): . Value is specified by the customer. . Value streams that produce each product can be identified and wasted steps challenged. . Product sh