Analysis of Shared Services Center Deployment at a University Hospital (CENTROMED) in Natal, Brazil: A Study on Availability and Capacity

Abstract

Purpose

The hospital is an organization that has its own characteristics that differentiate it from other institutions. It is characterized as a company providing services of social purpose, with a great operational complexity, due to the diversity of services provided. These organizations are dependent on technology to play the role of assisting society. Technology is onerous: it is up to the aforementioned institutions to adopt management tools to control these costs. The present study explains the process of implementing a shared service centre (CENTROMED) for the management of hospital medical equipment (HME) at the Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes (HUOL) in the city of Natal, RN.

Patients and Methods

In order to achieve a successful implementation, four key steps were taken: process modelling; determination of key performance indicators, organization of physical arrangement; and adequate training and development of human resources. The work followed an action research approach focusing on three main methodological steps: identification of HUOL clinical engineering team’s demands, definition of the process for providing the equipment service, and definition of the supply items that will be managed.

Results

The preliminary results of this research indicate that the centralization of the management of the HME contributed to the optimization of the processes, the reduction of the costs and the availability of the equipment, thus providing a powerful management tool to support the hospital operational management.

Conclusion

The utilization of the shared service center for the management of hospital medical equipment is ultimately linked to the patient’s well-being as it contributes to the agility in hospital procedures and provides support in maintaining the capacity of attendance of the assistance teams.

Keywords:

• hospitals
• shared services center
• hospital equipment and supplies
• hospital maintenance and engineering
• health services administration

Acknowledgments

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) -Finance Code 001. As this is a research that did not involve human beings (it is a descriptive study of the creation of a shared services center), there was no need for prior approval by a research ethics committee.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest for this work.