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Article
Reengineering the Cardiac Catheterization Lab Processes: A Lean Approach
Journal of Healthcare Engineering
  • Venkatesh A. Raghavan
  • Vikram Venkatadri
  • Varum Kesavakumaran
  • Shengyong Wang, University of Akron Main Campus
  • Mohammad Khasawneh
  • Krisnaswami Srihari
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2010
Abstract

This paper presents a cross-functional effort in a US community hospital for an overall process improvement in its Cardiac Catheterization Lab (CCL). One of the key system performance metrics identified was the patient turnaround time. The objective of this study was to identify the sources of delays in the system that lead to prolonged patient turnaround time using a structured lean approach. A set of qualitative recommendations were proposed and implemented. Quantification of some of these recommendations and certain additional ‘what-if’ scenarios were evaluated using Discrete Event Simulation (DES). The simulation results showed that significant reduction in patient turnaround time could be achieved if the proposed recommendations were implemented. This study demonstrated the benefits of adopting the lean philosophy in the continuous process improvement journey in the healthcare delivery arena.

Citation Information
Venkatesh A. Raghavan, Vikram Venkatadri, Varum Kesavakumaran, Shengyong Wang, et al.. "Reengineering the Cardiac Catheterization Lab Processes: A Lean Approach" Journal of Healthcare Engineering Vol. 1 Iss. 1 (2010) p. 45 - 65
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/shengyong_wang/1/