A business process management approach to perioperative supplies/instrument inventory and workflow

Abstract

This study examines business process management practices applied to monitor, measure, and improve a hospital's perioperative supply workflow and corresponding inventory management. This paper identifies how dynamic technological activities of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis applied to internal and external organizational data can highlight complex relationships within integrated hospital processes to target opportunities for improvement and ultimately yield improved process capabilities. The identification of existing limitations, potential capabilities, and the subsequent contextual understanding are contributing factors that yield measured improvement within a hospital's perioperative process. Based on a 10-year longitudinal study of a large 909 registered-bed teaching hospital, this case study investigates the impact of integrated information systems to identify, qualify, and quantify business analytics used to improve perioperative efficiency and effectiveness across patient quality of care, operational efficiency, and financial cost effectiveness. The theoretical and practical implications and/or limitations of this study's results are also discussed with respect to practitioners and researchers alike. © 2014 IEEE.