Lean Tools and Strategic Cost Management in a Hospital Unit

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.2163162305073

• Palavras-chave: Lean in the hospital sector, Value Stream Mapping, Spaghetti Diagram, 5S Methodology, Strategic Cost Management.

• Keywords: Lean in the hospital sector, Value Stream Mapping, Spaghetti Diagram, 5S Methodology, Strategic Cost Management.

• Abstract:

  The objective of this work is to analyze how the use of Lean tools can be applied in the services of a hospital unit, in order to increase its efficiency and reduce its costs, while ensuring the improvement of the quality of the services provided. In addition to the number of users, their journey within the hospital unit's services is a cost generator, so the user's flow through the system must be analyzed to identify, remove or optimize activities that do not add value to the process. The case study took place in two services of the Hospitals of the University of Coimbra (HUC), where the tools used showed results such as: increased quality and safety, improved waiting times, greater efficiency, We concluded that Lean tools can be used in order to optimize resources, improve quality, thus leading to cost reduction in health services.