Standards of Value Stream Mapping as a tool supporting logistics processes in the healthcare system in Poland

Abstract

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) a health system consists of many components like organizations, institutions, resources, and people whose primary purpose is to improve health. The system is complex and requires staff, funds, information, supplies, transport, communications and overall guidance and direction to function properly. These elements interact with each other and, as in the logistics system, there are uninterrupted physical, decision-making and information flows between its most important elements, which include: service providers, service recipients (patients), a payer (the National Health Fund), control and supervision institutions, the Ministry of Health. The Polish healthcare system is struggling with many problems, such as insufficient access to health services, inefficient system management, shortages of medical staff, or underfunding. The use of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) standards can significantly contribute to the improvement of logistics processes of the Polish healthcare system. The standards can be also used to improve the processes of treatment of other diseases, but also the functioning of healthcare units.The aim of the article is to present the possibility of applying Value Stream Mapping standards in the process of ischemic stroke treatment as the results of the project ‘Lean Management in Healthcare’, implemented by the consortium consisting of the Medical University of Warsaw, the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw and the Polish Society of Health Economics, financed by the National Centre for Research and Development under contract no. IS-2/200/NCBR/2015.