Lectures HSOM
Lecture 1 Part 1: Health Service Operations Management
Research field & concepts
Topics
• Background & development of the research field
• Operations Management
• Service management
Health Service Operations Management (HSOM):
The analysis, design, planning and control of all the steps necessary to deliver services to
clients in healthcare.
HSOM can be seen as service operations management apply to health services. The field
of service operations management can be seen as composed of two building blocks. First of
all, operations management, which has his origin and roots in the manufacture and
production industry. And second, the service management, which is more dedicated to
service organizations, like restaurants, hotels and the entertainment industry.
In this course we are going to use 2 books:
- The book of Fitzsimmons, which focuses on service management. And health service
management/health services are one of the cases and examples they are using.
- The health operation point of view is more focused on the health operations
management book of Vissers and Beech. All the examples and theory is about
operation management applied to health services.
From 1800: moving from agriculture towards manufacturing towards service economy
The majority of the population was working in agriculture, creating food for the family.
Nowadays we see that the majority of employees is working in the service industry. And in
between there is a movement from agriculture, towards more manufacturing and
production (buying and selling goods), but also towards the service industry. From the
industrial revolution onwards, people need less time, less effort, but also less money to get
their food, to produce their food, and also to buy their food and that makes that
manufacturing producing goods, was upcoming and was creating markets and possibilities
for people to buy things. As cheaper the things are becoming, the more people can choice;
not only to buy food and products, but also to buy services > e.g., to buy entertainment, to
go to a restaurant and they have money and time to enjoy services and service economy was
emerging from that time on. We see the fields of operations management and service
operations management emerge quite recently. Operations management become more a
field of research from 1970/1980’s and even later, after 2000, the service operations
management as a research field emerged. In this course we are focusing on these two fields.
,Health Service Operations Management
Operations management
What is an operation? An operation is something that transforms input into output. It must
be some kind of transformation. We use resources and we apply regulations or guidelines on
the operation that must take place.
Vissers and Beech, 2008
Operation – example
E.g., assemble a table. You can see this as a transformation wood and nails and other
material and components towards a table that can be used. We don’t only use components
and materials, but we also need resources, such as a carpenter who is creating the table, but
also the tools that he is using. And maybe we have some manual or guideline how to
assemble this specific table. There is a distinction between materials and tools > materials
are used for the specific table, e.g., the nails. You can’t use the same materials for the next
table. And the tools, like a hammer, can be used again for assembling the next table; it can
be re-used.
, components Assemble a
materials table
carpenter
Example of a service-operation?
What kind of service operation can you think about? Q&A session of Friday! (4 th of
December)
service
operation
Types of operations
Vissers and Beech, 2008
• Alteration > it changes things. A specific example of transformation (e.g., the table
where you are changing the material, the wood and the nails into the table that can
be used as such).
• Transportation > can also be a transformation; an operation. The input is being goods
on a specific place and the transformation is the movement to the next place, so the
end situation is different from the start situation and that is the transformation that
takes place; by transporting those goods.
• Inspection > the non-inspected goods are the input. The inspection is the
transformation to some kind of quality issue and that is then the end situation.
• Storage > is a little bit different. In the production and manufacturing industry,
storage is frequently seen as a type of operations, but in services; storage is not such
an operation, but it is more seen as a delay between different operations.
In services: storage as an operation or as a delay in operations?
Hierarchy from Operations Management perspective
You can also look at the operations from a hierarchy. An operation, as a transformation, can
consist of different activities. Activities are given as the rectangles in the figure. And in
between those activities there can be some waiting times, showed here as the triangles in
, the figure and the difference between an activity and an operation is that on the level of an
operation there is a transformation between the input and the output. And on the level of
the activity, that is not by definition like this. It can be an activity without a specific
transformation. Activity as such can be divided into task and a task can be even more divided
into subtasks. This is a hierarchy in operations, activities and tasks.
Health Service Operations Management: Unit – Process – Network now look from the
health service operations management distinction between unit, process and network.
Vissers and Beech, 2008, p. 47-48
• Unit
• A department in a health organization that performs operations of the same
operation type > e.g., in a hospital, in the MRI department (this is the unit)
and the operation type is the performing MRI’s. And they have resources,
they have a specific staff that is able to do the MRI examination, you have the
MRI material, there is room for it everything that is needed to produce
that operation type MRI.
Process
In most cases, a unit is part of a process and a process is the thing that delivers the service
for the patient (e.g., a patient has some health complaints, different examinations, different
type of operations and at the end of the process the patient will get the diagnosis. The
process regularly uses different units and different operations to produce the service that is
needed at the end of the process.
Health Service Operations Management: Unit – Process – Network
Vissers and Beech, 2008, p. 47-48
• Unit
• a department in a health organization that performs operations of the same
operation type
• Process/chain
Lecture 1 Part 1: Health Service Operations Management
Research field & concepts
Topics
• Background & development of the research field
• Operations Management
• Service management
Health Service Operations Management (HSOM):
The analysis, design, planning and control of all the steps necessary to deliver services to
clients in healthcare.
HSOM can be seen as service operations management apply to health services. The field
of service operations management can be seen as composed of two building blocks. First of
all, operations management, which has his origin and roots in the manufacture and
production industry. And second, the service management, which is more dedicated to
service organizations, like restaurants, hotels and the entertainment industry.
In this course we are going to use 2 books:
- The book of Fitzsimmons, which focuses on service management. And health service
management/health services are one of the cases and examples they are using.
- The health operation point of view is more focused on the health operations
management book of Vissers and Beech. All the examples and theory is about
operation management applied to health services.
From 1800: moving from agriculture towards manufacturing towards service economy
The majority of the population was working in agriculture, creating food for the family.
Nowadays we see that the majority of employees is working in the service industry. And in
between there is a movement from agriculture, towards more manufacturing and
production (buying and selling goods), but also towards the service industry. From the
industrial revolution onwards, people need less time, less effort, but also less money to get
their food, to produce their food, and also to buy their food and that makes that
manufacturing producing goods, was upcoming and was creating markets and possibilities
for people to buy things. As cheaper the things are becoming, the more people can choice;
not only to buy food and products, but also to buy services > e.g., to buy entertainment, to
go to a restaurant and they have money and time to enjoy services and service economy was
emerging from that time on. We see the fields of operations management and service
operations management emerge quite recently. Operations management become more a
field of research from 1970/1980’s and even later, after 2000, the service operations
management as a research field emerged. In this course we are focusing on these two fields.
,Health Service Operations Management
Operations management
What is an operation? An operation is something that transforms input into output. It must
be some kind of transformation. We use resources and we apply regulations or guidelines on
the operation that must take place.
Vissers and Beech, 2008
Operation – example
E.g., assemble a table. You can see this as a transformation wood and nails and other
material and components towards a table that can be used. We don’t only use components
and materials, but we also need resources, such as a carpenter who is creating the table, but
also the tools that he is using. And maybe we have some manual or guideline how to
assemble this specific table. There is a distinction between materials and tools > materials
are used for the specific table, e.g., the nails. You can’t use the same materials for the next
table. And the tools, like a hammer, can be used again for assembling the next table; it can
be re-used.
, components Assemble a
materials table
carpenter
Example of a service-operation?
What kind of service operation can you think about? Q&A session of Friday! (4 th of
December)
service
operation
Types of operations
Vissers and Beech, 2008
• Alteration > it changes things. A specific example of transformation (e.g., the table
where you are changing the material, the wood and the nails into the table that can
be used as such).
• Transportation > can also be a transformation; an operation. The input is being goods
on a specific place and the transformation is the movement to the next place, so the
end situation is different from the start situation and that is the transformation that
takes place; by transporting those goods.
• Inspection > the non-inspected goods are the input. The inspection is the
transformation to some kind of quality issue and that is then the end situation.
• Storage > is a little bit different. In the production and manufacturing industry,
storage is frequently seen as a type of operations, but in services; storage is not such
an operation, but it is more seen as a delay between different operations.
In services: storage as an operation or as a delay in operations?
Hierarchy from Operations Management perspective
You can also look at the operations from a hierarchy. An operation, as a transformation, can
consist of different activities. Activities are given as the rectangles in the figure. And in
between those activities there can be some waiting times, showed here as the triangles in
, the figure and the difference between an activity and an operation is that on the level of an
operation there is a transformation between the input and the output. And on the level of
the activity, that is not by definition like this. It can be an activity without a specific
transformation. Activity as such can be divided into task and a task can be even more divided
into subtasks. This is a hierarchy in operations, activities and tasks.
Health Service Operations Management: Unit – Process – Network now look from the
health service operations management distinction between unit, process and network.
Vissers and Beech, 2008, p. 47-48
• Unit
• A department in a health organization that performs operations of the same
operation type > e.g., in a hospital, in the MRI department (this is the unit)
and the operation type is the performing MRI’s. And they have resources,
they have a specific staff that is able to do the MRI examination, you have the
MRI material, there is room for it everything that is needed to produce
that operation type MRI.
Process
In most cases, a unit is part of a process and a process is the thing that delivers the service
for the patient (e.g., a patient has some health complaints, different examinations, different
type of operations and at the end of the process the patient will get the diagnosis. The
process regularly uses different units and different operations to produce the service that is
needed at the end of the process.
Health Service Operations Management: Unit – Process – Network
Vissers and Beech, 2008, p. 47-48
• Unit
• a department in a health organization that performs operations of the same
operation type
• Process/chain
