A Review on the Implementation of System Modelling Techniques in Lean Healthcare Applications

Healthcare systems are under enormous pressure to improve efficiency and quality of care due to increasing cost and demand. To address such challenges, there is an increasing awareness on the utilization of lean tools in healthcare settings aimed at minimizing wastes in operational processes. A potential approach that can be integrated with lean tools is System Modelling Techniques (SMTs), to help identify comprehensive list of wastes in a systematic way. To investigate the relationship between lean tools and SMTs, this paper reviews the literature in the field and provides a conceptual framework for potential link between these two complementary approaches. The results of the proposed framework is quite valuable for healthcare quality and process improvement managers.