Operational Excellence: The Healthcare Management Imperative

Abstract

Purpose: Operational excellence as a response to quality crises emerged in the 1980s with growing recognition. The concept that predominantly existed in manufacturing industries slowly shifted to other industries. This review addresses the concept of operational excellence for quality beyond industry specificity.Recent findings: The strive for operational excellence is on but lags in metrics and indicators. Innovative approaches are still underway. The positive development is that operational excellence is gaining more leadership attention for quality gaps.Summary: Operational excellence is not a destination but a culture of an organisation for continuous improvement, lean management, leadership support, exponential technology advancement, training and developing employees, teamwork, and collaboration with patientcenteredness as the main focus