Okvalificerat arbete och slöseri i vården - Fallstudie av en kirurgavdelning vid Sahlgrenska Universitetssjukhus

Abstract

The Swedish healthcare is facing major challenges with rising life expectancy as well as an aging population. To meet the requirements, the healthcare must become more effective, waiting lists shortened, nursing staff relieved and patients treated within the care guarantee. Work towards improved quality of care and accessibility is often based on logistics, with the theoretical basis of the manufacturing philosophy of lean Production. Lean has proven increasingly applicable and received great success within healthcare, and therefore have different orientations of lean been studied and theoretically applied in the study. Waste elimination has a central role in the report. Along with a Surgical Ward at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, a collaboration began of this qualitative case study regarding logistical applications. The department’s perceived problem is that competent staff is devoting a lot of time to execute unqualified tasks, with transportations of patient beds in particular. The report lists the activities that are considered to be unqualified which doesn’t have to be performed by nurses. Observations have been carried out in combination with literature studies in order to identify the activities and create an overall understanding of the problem and its extent. The aim of the thesis is to examine the duration of the unqualified work in the department, focusing on the bed transportation. The problem is not exclusive to Sahlgrenska University hospital but it is a common activity in the Swedish healthcare and in hospitals around the world. Finally, three proposals of improvement are presented to remedy the perceived problem and to answer the report's initial aim. Suggestion one proposes a part-­‐time job applicant to help the nursing staff with the activities that are considered most burdensome. Suggestion two presents a full-­‐time job where the employee will be based on the three surgical departments and associated reception. The service will include mainly bed transportation and, in case of time, other unqualified activities. The third and final suggestion proposes an investment in the longer term with the introduction of a robot that performs transport-­‐ related activities at the hospital.