Approaching Process Improvement

Abstract

Process improvement begins with the process view: understanding patient care from the patient's point of view. Organizations must also clearly articulate for themselves how they define operational excellence so that the tradeoffs taken in process improvement can be clearly made. Constructing a process map allows application of powerful analytical tools, such as Little's law, which in turn uncovers targets for process improvement from the patient's point of view. Often tradeoffs among process performance metrics, such as quality, cost, time, personalization, and innovation, must be made when deciding upon improvements to be made in certain processes.

Keywords: Health care operations; Heart failure; Process improvement.