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Abstract ID: 742
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the existing research related to the application of the Lean philosophy in healthcare settings. For this purpose, a systematic review of the literature is conducted using Thomson Reuters Web of KnowledgeSM, Scopus, Emerald, Ovid SP, Science Direct and Wiley databases. 242 documents (1998-2011) were found and classified according to the data they contained, methodology used, country of origin and source. A bibliometric citation/co-citation matrix was compiled to allow a social network analysis to be performed, revealing the key contributors to the field and main themes. The study identified that the interest in the topic has been growing steadily, particularly during the last five years, which account for 79.3% of the documents reviewed. Well succeeded applications of the methodology in various areas of health, both in its original state and in the form of hybrid systems such as Lean Six Sigma predominated in the studies. However, the absence of methodological rigor was an important feature observed, indicating a possible lack of maturity in this research field. The roots of Lean Philosophy, different aspects of quality in hospitals and Lean Six Sigma appear respectively as the characteristic themes of the three main groups of knowledge found.
Keywords: Lean Thinking, Health Care, Literature Review
1. Introduction
There is currently a pressing need for improvements in processes in health care systems around the world in terms of quality, safety, effectiveness, suitability, speed, efficiency and uniformity [1]. To deal with these issues, health organizations have been seeking new, more efficient ways of delivering their services and have been giving increasing consideration to the adoption of management philosophies and tools from the industrial sector [2].
Such philosophies include Lean Thinking, a management philosophy first described in 1990 by Womack and Jones [3] based on practices used in the Toyota Production System (TPS). Since then, Lean principles have spread to a wide range of business environments, where they have led to significant gains in quality and efficiency for relatively low investments [4].
There is already significant interest in the subject both in the academic world and industry, and this is reflected in the increasing number of publications in journals and congresses dealing specifically with the philosophy in...