Lean Thinking in Health care: An overview of the research characteristics, themes and knowledge groups (1998-2011)

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the existing research related to the application of the Lean philosophy in healthcare settings. For this purpose, a systematic review of the literature is conducted using Thomson Reuters Web of KnowledgeSM, Scopus, Emerald, Ovid SP, Science Di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIISE Annual Conference. Proceedings p. 1
Main Authors Plytiuk, Crislayne F, Pasqualine, Andreia, da Costa, Sergio E Gouvea, de Lima, Edson Pinheiro
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Norcross Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) 01.01.2012
Subjects
Bibliometrics
Citation analysis
Cocitation
Corporate culture
Efficiency
Engineering
Health care industry
Lean manufacturing
Philosophy
Research methodology
Six Sigma
Systematic review
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Summary:The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the existing research related to the application of the Lean philosophy in healthcare settings. For this purpose, a systematic review of the literature is conducted using Thomson Reuters Web of KnowledgeSM, Scopus, Emerald, Ovid SP, Science Direct and Wiley databases. 242 documents (1998-2011) were found and classified according to the data they contained, methodology used, country of origin and source. A bibliometric citation/co-citation matrix was compiled to allow a social network analysis to be performed, revealing the key contributors to the field and main themes. The study identified that the interest in the topic has been growing steadily, particularly during the last five years, which account for 79.3% of the documents reviewed. Well succeeded applications of the methodology in various areas of health, both in its original state and in the form of hybrid systems such as Lean Six Sigma predominated in the studies. However, the absence of methodological rigor was an important feature observed, indicating a possible lack of maturity in this research field. The roots of Lean Philosophy, different aspects of quality in hospitals and Lean Six Sigma appear respectively as the characteristic themes of the three main groups of knowledge found. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]