Service Quality Improvement of Outpatient Blood Collection by Lean Management

Abstract

Shui Fu,1 Xian-Guo Wu,2 Liang Zhang,1 Li-Feng Wu,1 Zhang-Mei Luo,1 Qi-Lei Hu1 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First People’s Hospital of Yuhang District, Hangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311100, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Qi-Lei HuDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, The First People’s Hospital of Yuhang District, Hangzhou, No. 369 Yingbin Road of Nanyuan Street, Linping District, Hangzhou, 311100, People’s Republic of ChinaTel [phone]Email [email protected]: To explore the application effect of lean management in improving the quality of outpatient blood collection services.Methods: For this study, a total of 146,907 patients whose blood was sampled by outpatient services between April 2020 and September 2020 were selected. We analyzed the influence of various factors on the waiting time and satisfaction levels of the patients for blood collection and eliminated confounders based on the results of the analysis. Lean management for the outpatient blood collection service was implemented in July 2020. Thus, the 38,275 cases sampled on weekday mornings between April and June 2020 were selected as the ordinary management group, while the 39,473 cases sampled on weekday mornings between July and September 2020 belonged to the lean management group. Finally, the changes in waiting time and the satisfaction levels of the patients were evaluated.Results: The age and gender of the patients and the length of service of the staff, who administered blood collection had a negligible effect on the waiting time (Z=− 1.243, P=0.418; Z=− 1.569, P=0.389; Z = − 1.062, P= 0.563), while there was a statistical difference in the waiting time between different days and different sessions (Z = − 2.581, P = 0.013 and Z = − 4.672, P 0.05). Overall, the median waiting time of outpatients decreased from 22 min to 13 min after the implementation of lean management (Z =10.522, P < 0.001), while the satisfaction level of outpatients increased from 95.37% to 98.33% (χ2 = 559.580, P < 0.001).Conclusion: The application of lean management can significantly shorten outpatient waiting time for blood collection, improve patients satisfaction levels, and enhance the overall patient experience. Thus, lean management can significantly improve the service quality of outpatient blood collection.Keywords: lean management, outpatient blood collection, waiting time, satisfaction, service quality

Keywords

• lean management
• outpatient blood collection
• waiting time
• satisfaction
• service quality