A systems approach to mapping performance in Indian healthcare organizations

ABSTRACT

Objective: The aim of the study is to quantify the determinants of hospital performance indicators from a patient’s perspective based on two parameters – patient safety and satisfaction.

Methods: A qualitative and quantitative assessment was done using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews that occurred over a period of eight consecutive weeks. A system dynamics model of the hospital was developed incorporating the determinants of the two significant hospital performance indicators which are patient satisfaction and safety.

Results: The model developed dynamically quantifies the patient satisfaction and safety level upon variation in the model parameters. This has managerial implications on effective capacity utilization within the premises based on supply and demand. The model addresses the problem of aggregate waiting time in hospitals which is a major cause of dissatisfaction among patients in India.

Conclusion: Our model depicts a hospital functioning in a specialty cluster in India, with modest resources and is exposed to similar risks as in our model. The use of electronic medical records data and analytics are not considered in the model as those are still in the infancy stage in most of the government and private run hospitals in India and major improvements are needed to generate new insights and to have an impact on performance measurement.

Originality: The development of a unique comprehensive model for measuring patient satisfaction and safety in a healthcare facility considering the possibilities of risks and related occurrences contributes to the research in healthcare sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Hospital performance measurement
• system dynamics
• patient safety
• patient satisfaction
• quality of treatment
• lean manufacturing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Priya Harikumar

Priya Harikumar graduated in Industrial Engineering from University of Houston, Texas. Her specialization during Masters study was in Manufacturing and production. Presently working at Amrita University, Coimbatore as Assistant professor she has been teaching undergraduate level courses like Enterprise management, Operations research, Financial management and Financial Engineering. Her research interests include Productivity improvement in Service sector particularly hospitals using Lean thinking.

P. G. Saleeshya

Dr P.G. Saleeshya received her M. Tech. and Ph. D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from IIT Bombay. She has numerous publications at national and international levels, and a total of 20 years experience in Industry and academia. Her research is mainly focused on the area of operations strategy: agile manufacturing, lean manufacturing in continuous manufacturing systems, responsive supply chains and Lean Six sigma.