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. 2022 Apr 8;19(8):4475.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19084475.

Lean Management Approach for Reengineering the Hospital Cardiology Consultation Process: A Report from AORN "A. Cardarelli" of Naples

Eduardo Bossone  1 , Massimo Majolo  1 , Serena D'Ambrosio  2 , Eliana Raiola  1 , Michele Sparano  1 , Giuseppe Russo  1 , Giuseppe Longo  1 , Maria Triassi  3   4 , Angelo Rosa  5
Affiliations

Lean Management Approach for Reengineering the Hospital Cardiology Consultation Process: A Report from AORN "A. Cardarelli" of Naples

Eduardo Bossone et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Consultations with specialists are essential for safe and high-quality care for all patients. Cardiology consultations, due to a progressive increase in cardiology comorbidities, are becoming more common in hospitals prior to any type of treatment. The appropriateness and correctness of the request, the waiting time for delivery and the duration of the visit are just a few of the elements that can affect the quality of the process.

Methods: In this work, a Lean approach and Telemedicine are used to optimize the cardiology consultancy process provided by the Cardiology Unit of "Antonio Cardarelli" Hospital of Naples (Italy), the largest hospital in the southern Italy.

Results: The application of corrective actions, with the introduction of portable devices and telemedicine, led to a reduction in the percentage of waiting for counseling from 29.6% to 18.3% and an increase in the number of patients treated.

Conclusions: The peculiarity of the study is to apply an innovative methodology such as Lean Thinking in optimizing the cardiology consultancy process, currently little studied in literature, with benefits for both patients and medical staff.

Keywords: lean management; process re-engineering; quality improvement; teleconsulting.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A.O.R.N. “A. Cardarelli” of Naples.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flow chart of the consultation process before the Lean management intervention.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Flow chart of the consultation process after the Lean management intervention.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Process flow chart: (a) before Lean intervention; (b) after Lean intervention. The X-axis shows the numbers of consultations. The Y-axis shows the time to complete consultation. Average waiting time for consultations is reported in red (solid line).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison of average waiting times for consultations before and after improvement.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Comparison of average waiting times for each consultation approach before and after improvement.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Flow chart of the consultation process after the Lean management intervention with the presence of Functional Cardiology Room.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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