After the successful piloting of a LEAN operation unit at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, what factors should be considered when deciding whether to expand the program to other units within the hospital?
After the successful piloting of a LEAN operation unit at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, what factors should be considered when deciding whether to expand the program to other units within the hospital?
In 2014 Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (AIDHC), reorganized its short-stay acute care unit so that the unit operated using LEAN management processes. The pilot program was housed in 4 West, a 24-bed wing of AIDHC's new hospital building in Delaware. After several months, the hospital found noticeable improvements in 4 West's performance as measured by health outcomes, patient satisfaction, and other metrics. Senior management wanted to know whether 4 West practices should, or could, be expanded further. This case presents students with the hospital's rationale and goals for LEAN operations and the steps taken to implement a LEAN program in a hospital setting. A case exercise asks students to analyze a patient data set in order to quantify the impact of the LEAN program on 4 West's operations—and to consider whether or not the 4 West program is scalable.
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