Application of Value Engineering to Improve Discharging Procedure in Healthcare Centers (Case Study: Amini Hospital, Langroud, Iran)

摘要

The main aim of the value engineering technique is to analyze project activities over all stages including design, implementation, operation and maintenance. Application of this technique is very efficient to identify and remove unnecessary costs in order to optimize both time and cost of production stages. The aim of the present paper is to develop a model to improve discharge process in hospitals using the steps of value engineering technique and its concepts. After studying a hospital discharge process, all involved components have been drawn as model using Visual Paradigm software. At the next step, wastes and problems of process have been identified followed by suggesting innovative ideas proposed by team members to improve procedures. In order to validate improving suggestions, the Amini's Hospital in Langroud (Guilan Province, Iran) has been selected as case study as well as simulating the current and proposed procedure through the well-known technique of simulation. Comparing results before and after study revealed that about three hours will be saved if innovative ideas are applied over discharging procedure. It is also concluded that value engineering technique is an efficient method to improve the performance of servicing activities on health care systems.