Engineering efficiency in medicine - Page 2
“When we performed our time study analysis there were only two physicians in the department,” said LaRose, “now there are three. Our plan was designed to help ease the congestion when scheduling exam rooms, now I don’t know if there will be enough rooms to accommodate three doctors,” he added.
Analyzing the access and efficiency of clinical office operations, the students also determined the space allocated for office operations was inefficient. Recommendations were made to eliminate paper files in favor of electronic files, which opened up additional physical space, and categorically grouping operations such as phone calls, patient greeting and sign-in, scheduling, billing, and patient check-out for better division of labor.
The students also recommended rearranging the front desk area and a sign in the waiting room alerting patients to check-in procedures.
“The recommendations served to validate our hypothesis, or presumptions about office flow and opportunities for efficiency,” said Tower. “We have implemented some of the recommendations but not 100 percent,” he added.
Tower said his office continues to work on ongoing adjustments in their schedule and office flow, calling it a “work in progress. Overall the experience was very positive and I would recommend it to my colleagues,” he added.
Comparing their experience to more traditional Industrial Engineering enterprises, the students found the medical industry could have higher rate of variability than manufacturing and that industrial methods and processes can improve the medical industry.
“We all came from an automotive background,” said LaRose, “yet we were able to use everything we learned to help a hospital achieve greater efficiencies. Who would have thought it possible?”
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