Lean Methodology Improves Efficiency in Outpatient Academic Uro-oncology Clinics

To determine if lean methodology, an industrial engineering tool developed to optimize manufacturing efficiency, can successfully be applied to improve efficiencies and quality of care in a hospital-based high-volume uro-oncology clinic.Before the lean initiative, baseline data were collected on patient volumes, wait times, cycle times (patient arrival to discharge), nursing assessment time, patient teaching, and physician ergonomics (via...