Analysis of Shared Services Center Deployment at a University Hospital (CENTROMED) in Natal, Brazil: A Study on Availability and Capacity

Abstract

Davidson Rogério de Medeiros Florentino,1 Eric Lucas dos Santos Cabral,2 Wilkson Ricardo Silva Castro,2 João Florêncio da Costa Junior,3 João Gomes de Torres Neto,2 Francisco de Cássio de Oliveira Mendes,4 Helio Roberto Hekis,5 Amália Cinthia Meneses Rêgo,6 Irami Araújo Filho7 1Logistics and Hospital Infrastructure Division, Graduate Program in Production Engineering, UFRN, Natal, Brazil; 2Department of Production Engineering, Graduate Program in Production Engineering, UFRN, Natal, Brazil; 3School of Applied Social Sciences, Education, Arts and Humanities, Laureate International Universities (Potiguar University), Natal, Brazil; 4Diagnostic Imaging Unit and Graphic Method, Graduate Program in Health Management and Innovation, UFRN, Natal, Brazil; 5Department of Biomedical Engineering, Graduate Program in Production Engineering, UFRN, Natal, Brazil; 6Graduate Program in Biotechnology, Laureate International Universities (Potiguar University), Natal, Brazil; 7Department of Surgery, Graduate Program in Health Management and Innovation, UFRN, Natal, BrazilCorrespondence: Irami Araújo Filho Tel [phone]Fax + 55 84 3342-5079Email [email protected]: The hospital is an organization that has its own characteristics that differentiate it from other institutions. It is characterized as a company providing services of social purpose, with a great operational complexity, due to the diversity of services provided. These organizations are dependent on technology to play the role of assisting society. Technology is onerous: it is up to the aforementioned institutions to adopt management tools to control these costs. The present study explains the process of implementing a shared service centre (CENTROMED) for the management of hospital medical equipment (HME) at the Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes (HUOL) in the city of Natal, RN.Patients and Methods: In order to achieve a successful implementation, four key steps were taken: process modelling; determination of key performance indicators, organization of physical arrangement; and adequate training and development of human resources. The work followed an action research approach focusing on three main methodological steps: identification of HUOL clinical engineering team’s demands, definition of the process for providing the equipment service, and definition of the supply items that will be managed.Results: The preliminary results of this research indicate that the centralization of the management of the HME contributed to the optimization of the processes, the reduction of the costs and the availability of the equipment, thus providing a powerful management tool to support the hospital operational management.Conclusion: The utilization of the shared service center for the management of hospital medical equipment is ultimately linked to the patient’s well-being as it contributes to the agility in hospital procedures and provides support in maintaining the capacity of attendance of the assistance teams.Keywords: hospitals, shared services center, hospital equipment and supplies, hospital maintenance and engineering, health services administration

Keywords

• hospitals
• shared services center
• hospital equipment and supplies
• hospital maintenance and engineering
• health services administration