Applying the theory of constraints to the logistics service of medical records of a hospital

Autor: Víctor-G. Aguilar-Escobar, Pedro Garrido-Vega, María-del-Mar González-Zamora
Jazyk: Spanish; Castilian
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: European Research on Management and Business Economics, Vol 22, Iss 3, Pp 139-146 (2016)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2444-8834
DOI: 10.1016/j.iedee.2015.07.001
Popis: Management of patient records in a hospital is of major importance, for its impact both on the quality of care and on the associated costs. Since this process is circular, the prevention of the building up of bottlenecks is especially important. Thus, the objective of this paper was to analyze whether the Theory of Constraints (TOC) can be useful to the logistics of medical records in hospitals. The paper is based on a case study conducted about the 2007-2011 period in the Medical Records Logistics Service at the Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena in Seville (Spain). From April 2008, a set of actions in the clinical record logistics system were implemented based on the application of TOC principles. The results obtained show a significant increase in the level of service and employee productivity, as well as a reduction of cost and the number of patients’ complaints.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals