Evaluation of industrial engineering students’ competencies for process improvement in hospitals
Abstract: The failures to
properly educate students about process improvement can be seen as major factor
leading to increased risks of patient safety and increased wastes in hospital
settings. The purpose of this research was two-fold: 1) to identify
characteristics that explain the efficacy of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA)
based-tools while used by Industrial Engineering (IE) students on multidisciplinary
teams in hospital; 2) to identify competencies needed by IEs for effective
process improvement in hospital using PDSA based-tools. Exploratory mixed
method design approach with survey study, unstructured interviews, and focus
group discussions was used to collect the data. A regression analysis was used
to identify PDSA based-tool characteristics perceived by IE students as
instrumental for process improvement. Next, the abductive inference was applied
to analyze qualitative data in order to investigate competencies needed for
effective process improvement using PDSA based-tools.Using regression analysis,
we found the brainstorming via visualization, recognizing root-cause(s) of the
problem and selecting improvement measures via linking the process flow with
task(s) characteristics to be the significant characteristics. From qualitative
data analysis, we learned that IE students strived in technical analysis but
lacked competencies in analyzing qualitative data needed for change
implementation efforts. There is increasing evidence that success in achieving
process improvement goals is at least partially attributable to implementation
processes and contexts and not just to the nature of the technical solution.
Therefore, IE students interested in working in hospitals must develop new
competencies related to qualitative data analysis to manage change initiatives.
Author: Lukasz Maciej Mazur,
Shi-Jie (Gary) Chen
Journal Code: jptindustrigg100029
