"Towards a Better Patient Care" : how does the coordination of the use of resources within an out-patient and day treatment department at the National University Hospital work?

Abstract

This master thesis is intended to contribute towards a better patient care. The thesis is related to the coordination complexity of the use of resources and patient logistics within an out-patient and day treatment department. The value chain model, supply chain management, the Porter competitiveness approach and the lean approach, are used as theoretical framework. The research design is a SWOT-analysis and an empirical study of some patient categories and treatment lines within the surgical out-patient department at The National University Hospital. The research has been carried out by following 151 patient consultations “end to end”. Key factors which have proven to be of importance are the health personnel, the space resource and the communication exchange. The risk of “time loss” is apparent from the cases examined, and it could put strain upon the patients by unnecessary waiting time. The result of the study shows that in most of the out-patient departments, less than 50 % of the time is used directly for patient interaction. The potential for improvements is thus great, and there is much to be gained both in terms of quality and in terms of cost-efficiency with better patient logistics.