|
Market Research, Lean Training, Laboratory Workflow and More...
Visit Our Website
|
In Focus
The Lean Healthcare Institute methodology is designed specifically for the pathology and diagnostic laboratory. Instead of learning about Lean through exercises that only apply to a manufacturing environment, LHI uses real cases from laboratory operations. Learn More |
Product & Services Guide 2011
|
|
|
Greetings!
Thanks for being a subscriber and following the Nexus News. Visit us for ideas on management and continuous improvement programs and to access article archives for past issues at the Nexus News Archives.
We look forward to seeing you at the AACC in Atlanta! |
|
Lean and Green: Lab Automation Design
July 22, 2011
For many years the major clinical and pathology automation vendors have understood the lean concepts of minimizing waste and optimal piece-flow. Design engineers have looked at workflow in the laboratory and asked customers questions (usually via marketing channels) as to how the instrument can be designed to help the lab achieve their goals. More often than not, lab goals in recent years have centered on work and product efficiency.
Early in the diagnostic instrument life-cycle an instrument is usually as good as the quality of the test. As time progresses, the designers must compete by providing better instrument features. An example of this evolution is the instrument rack size. Early instruments are typically designed to work with batches of samples (sometimes up to 96 samples - the size of a micro plate). Over time the assay quality is assumed and the customer demands more flexibility and better throughput from lab automation. An outcome of this is usually better batch size: instead of running 96 samples (and having to wait for all 96 to complete) the customer demands single piece flow so that the cycle time per sample is improved. Although the best solution would be single-piece flow with batch sizes of 1, the compromise is usually somewhere in-between. This is why many instrument racks have a capacity of 5.
Additionally, many vendors have done good work with visual cues: having identification and color codes to help the operator to avoid mistakes. Poke-yoke techniques (fail safe features) are also used (i.e., designing a reagent bottle to fit only in the exact spot on the instrument where it is designed to rest).
The next phase of instrument design has been in motion for some time and involves the "green" aspect of "lean and green". This isn't just a socially conscience need. Many labs spend tens of thousands of dollars per year in solid and liquid disposable costs. The labs that try to minimize these costs (such as pathology labs that perform xylene recycling) are still spending thousands of dollars in labor and capital. Lab suppliers are working on these issues, from the aggressive (xylene substitutes) to the moderate (more efficient reagent packaging).
More...
Read the Full Article
|
Nexus Event Schedule Remaining in 2011
AACC (American Association for Clinical Chemistry), July 24-28 in Atlanta
IIE Lean and Six Sigma Convention, September 13-14 in Atlanta
G-2 Lab Institute 2011, October 19-21 in Arlington
AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) October 22-25 in San Diego
AMP 2011 Annual Meeting, November 17-19 in Grapevine, Texas
Partnerships
Market research partners are being sought for anatomical pathology, molecular diagnostics and general clinical chemistry studies. Contact Nexus for more information (honorariums typically provided): Click to Contact Nexus |
|
Service in Focus: Consulting
After working with thousands of healthcare organizations over the past 15 years, we at Nexus have discovered that there are primarily four reasons that organizations go outside the company in order to use a consultant.
-
Raw capacity - sometimes the organization has more work than they can handle in the short-term -
Speed - whenever in-house experts are wrapped up in other projects -
Expertise - expertise is needed that might not be found in the organization -
Innovation - looking through a different lens will sometimes lead to new ideas on products and services
Nexus has applied industrial engineering, quality initiatives, and management science techniques to the healthcare industry for over 5 years with consultants who have been in the industry for 20+ years. Contact us for any needs. |
|
Tools of the Trade: The "VSM"
Every quality management approach begins with . The next critical phase is This second step, like all of phases of a process, is critical to accomplish the steps that follow. Some ways to capture the current situation are through time studies, flow charting, interviews and metrics monitoring. A Lean method, the Value Stream Map (or VSM), is a visual tool used to broadly understand the workflow of an operation. Like all management tools, there are slight variances in how they are constructed, but generally they show the inputs to a system, the outputs and the major steps involved in converting the inputs to outputs. VSMs also depict the flow of information as it is used to support the operation. Finally, the VSM will also track the (cycle) time of how long it takes an item, like a specimen tube, to journey through the system.
The scope of a VSM will depend on the goals of the project. In the clinical laboratory the scope is typically the specimen tube from the arrival time in accessioning to the end point at specimen archive and test result release. A VSM could be used to track a nursing position or the path of the patient record (this is becoming important in the age of electronic patient records). If a hospital administrator is interested in improving patient satisfaction, then the VSM might focus on the "patient journey" from admitting to discharge, with the patient being the product.
Training for VSM can be performed by Nexus in your operation. If you have a need for many studies Nexus can also train your personnel to be VSM experts. |
|
|
|
|
