Health Service Operations Management
Week 1
Lecture research fields & concepts
HSOM: the analysis, planning and control of all the steps necessary to deliver services to clients in
healthcare.
Operations management
Types of operations:
- Alteration (changing things: input to output)
- Transportation (input: things in place A, output: things in
place B)
- Inspection (input: not expected good, output: quality
improvement)
- Storage (in operations seen as an operation, but in services
more seen as a delay between operations)
In services: storage as an operation or as a delay in operations?
Input cannot be used again. Resources can. Not 100% sure.
An operation (transformation) can be seen as different activities, in between these activities there can
be waiting times. On the level of the operation, it leads to differences in input and output. On the level
of the activity, it does not have to be, activity can be divided into tasks.
Health service operations management: unit-process-network
- Unit: a department in a health organization that performs operations of the same operation
type. MRI department (unit), performing MRI's (operation type)
- Process: delivers the service. Usually uses different units and different operations to produce the
service. Series of operations that need to be performed to produce a particular service. In most
cases the unit is part of a process: delivers the service for the patient. Patient undergoes
different types of examinations (different units) to get to a diagnosis.
- Network: combination of units and chains performing operations for services for several groups
of clients.
,Service management The service package: service is part of a package
A service is an activity or series of activities of
more or less intangible nature that normally, but
not necessarily takes place in interactions
between the customer and service employees
and /or physical resources or goods and/or
systems of the service provider, which are
provided as solutions to customer problems.
Characteristics of services:
- Customer participation (interaction
between doctor and patient)
- Simultaneous creation and use (service
takes place within the consultation room)
- Heterogeneity (service can be different Implicit services are more difficult to identify.
for patient A and patient B, even when Friendly interaction.
they have the same complaints) Explicit: another hair color, cup of coffee.
- Perishable (you cannot 'keep’ the service)
- Intangible (you cannot 'have it/store Supporting facility: chair, mirror
it/touch it’) Information: waiting times, options
- Non-transferrable ownership (you cannot Facilitating goods: gel, quality of the coffee
transfer the service; the service I used
cannot be used by someone else).
Lecture introduction & pathways
Patient care process: series of operations that need to be performed to produce a particular service. A
process is focused on a particular group of patients. Operations can be with or without waiting time.
Chain: series of operations crossing the boundaries of providers. Example: GP – ambulatory care –
hospital ward – home care.
, Forms of multidisciplinary processing – relations between processes and specialties:
Care pathways –definition EPA: a care pathway is a complex intervention for the mutual decisions
making and organization of care processes for a well-defined group of patients during a well-defined
time period.
- Characteristics of the method:
o Key interventions based on scientific evidence
o Coordination of the care process by coordinating the roles and determining the order of
activities
o Recorded in patient documentation
o Standardized care -> with monitoring, evaluation of deviations and giving feedback
- Why organize care in care pathways? Aims:
o Improving the quality of care; improving patient outcomes; increasing patient safety;
increasing patient satisfaction; coordinating care; optimizing capacity utilization.
Every care pathway is a patient process, not the other way around. Only relevant when you have a high
volume of a well-defined patient group. Guidelines are needed for a care pathway.
Lecture process modelling
Operations management:
A. Process flow mapping
To decide: level of detail chosen, start and end
B. Value stream mapping
Aim: improve your process by distinguishing value and waste.
Current state map (how the situation now is) => waste and value adding activities => future state map
Week 1
Lecture research fields & concepts
HSOM: the analysis, planning and control of all the steps necessary to deliver services to clients in
healthcare.
Operations management
Types of operations:
- Alteration (changing things: input to output)
- Transportation (input: things in place A, output: things in
place B)
- Inspection (input: not expected good, output: quality
improvement)
- Storage (in operations seen as an operation, but in services
more seen as a delay between operations)
In services: storage as an operation or as a delay in operations?
Input cannot be used again. Resources can. Not 100% sure.
An operation (transformation) can be seen as different activities, in between these activities there can
be waiting times. On the level of the operation, it leads to differences in input and output. On the level
of the activity, it does not have to be, activity can be divided into tasks.
Health service operations management: unit-process-network
- Unit: a department in a health organization that performs operations of the same operation
type. MRI department (unit), performing MRI's (operation type)
- Process: delivers the service. Usually uses different units and different operations to produce the
service. Series of operations that need to be performed to produce a particular service. In most
cases the unit is part of a process: delivers the service for the patient. Patient undergoes
different types of examinations (different units) to get to a diagnosis.
- Network: combination of units and chains performing operations for services for several groups
of clients.
,Service management The service package: service is part of a package
A service is an activity or series of activities of
more or less intangible nature that normally, but
not necessarily takes place in interactions
between the customer and service employees
and /or physical resources or goods and/or
systems of the service provider, which are
provided as solutions to customer problems.
Characteristics of services:
- Customer participation (interaction
between doctor and patient)
- Simultaneous creation and use (service
takes place within the consultation room)
- Heterogeneity (service can be different Implicit services are more difficult to identify.
for patient A and patient B, even when Friendly interaction.
they have the same complaints) Explicit: another hair color, cup of coffee.
- Perishable (you cannot 'keep’ the service)
- Intangible (you cannot 'have it/store Supporting facility: chair, mirror
it/touch it’) Information: waiting times, options
- Non-transferrable ownership (you cannot Facilitating goods: gel, quality of the coffee
transfer the service; the service I used
cannot be used by someone else).
Lecture introduction & pathways
Patient care process: series of operations that need to be performed to produce a particular service. A
process is focused on a particular group of patients. Operations can be with or without waiting time.
Chain: series of operations crossing the boundaries of providers. Example: GP – ambulatory care –
hospital ward – home care.
, Forms of multidisciplinary processing – relations between processes and specialties:
Care pathways –definition EPA: a care pathway is a complex intervention for the mutual decisions
making and organization of care processes for a well-defined group of patients during a well-defined
time period.
- Characteristics of the method:
o Key interventions based on scientific evidence
o Coordination of the care process by coordinating the roles and determining the order of
activities
o Recorded in patient documentation
o Standardized care -> with monitoring, evaluation of deviations and giving feedback
- Why organize care in care pathways? Aims:
o Improving the quality of care; improving patient outcomes; increasing patient safety;
increasing patient satisfaction; coordinating care; optimizing capacity utilization.
Every care pathway is a patient process, not the other way around. Only relevant when you have a high
volume of a well-defined patient group. Guidelines are needed for a care pathway.
Lecture process modelling
Operations management:
A. Process flow mapping
To decide: level of detail chosen, start and end
B. Value stream mapping
Aim: improve your process by distinguishing value and waste.
Current state map (how the situation now is) => waste and value adding activities => future state map
