Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 1

Abstract

The objective of this research paper is to evaluate whether there is a link which exists

between health care services and industrial sector. The modern developments that have

extensively taken place in the field of supply chain management are also taken into account.

Information collected is used in assessing these issues to understand the manner in which the

supply chain management has been impacting the effective provision of health care services

within the Arizona State Hospital. Additionally, the aim of this paper is to address issues

concerning operations management including the delays in the operating room as well as their

effect on the planning and scheduling of the operating activities within the Arizona State

Hospital

Introduction

Nowadays, a large percentage of medical institutions have extensively decentralized and

outsourced various clinical activities. These activities range from administration, information

technology (IT), marketing, manufacturing, and others. For instance, decentralization assists in

creating several coordination and problem solving to align all of them in a way that enables the

management authority of the Arizona State Hospital to meet quantity, quality, and other

expectations the patients at the right time and place (Taylor & Brunt, 2001 p.81). Organizing

world supply chain to rationalize these activities requires new models and tools for matching

patient’s demands. In the context of supply chain management, it means that adverse effects can

effectively be illustrated in the game setting model. In this process, modern information

technology tool assists in achieving competitive edge of healthcare institutions, through which

any supply chain partner can benefit from them (Paul, 2016 p.3).
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 2

Conversely, decisions regarding operational supply chain are made several times per day

in the hospital. These are ultimately the decisions established at any hospital setting and affect

the manner in which healthcare interventions are administered to their patients. They are also

created with a concise awareness of the tactical and strategic decisions which the Arizona State

Hospital could have adopted with time. The goal of these higher-level decisions entails creating

an outline within the operating activities of the hospital as well as to its competitive advantage.

Thus, the day-to-day healthcare supply chain management decisions assist the operational

manager in ensuring that clinical services are efficiently provided so as to realize utmost cost

benefits (Oyer & Verma, 2010 p.102).

In the modern economy, any organization cannot be in the position of enjoying the

economy of scale unless the management authority realizes instills proper delivery of healthcare

services to patients and community as a whole. The hospital’s day-to-day operations should be

regarded as the primary means of inducing the means of improving productivity and raising the

living standards of people. In order to improve performance, the management authority of the

Arizona State Hospital has the responsibility of adopting various service improvement methods.

Moreover, operations supply chain management and logistics are perceived as being crucial

factors that enable the hospital to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage

(Kachitvichyanukul et al., 2015 p.8).

Literature review

Operations and supply chain management have a significant role in improving the

activities of a healthcare organization which in return have attracted considerable research

attentions for several years. The literature conducted on the field reveals substantial spurt
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 3

research assumptions and other related practices of supply chain management

(Kachitvichyanukul et al., 2015 p.4). Supply chain management and performance in the global

economy demands modern approaches and other techniques which assists in maintaining and

improving the competitive edge of a healthcare institution for long-term success. A portion of

these successes can equally be realized through aligning day-to-day operating activities and

sourcing decisions with various supply chain partners. The alignment of the supply chain deals

with production and capacity planning, joint demand forecasting, pricing decisions and logistics,

and inventory management (Folinas, 2013 p. 27).

Causes of inefficiency operating room and the cost of delays in Arizona State hospital

The operating room is usually regarded as being the financial center for maximizing the

efficiency of the operating room. This financial centre has several implications for patient

satisfaction, cost saving and the hospital team morale. Although process mapping, time

consuming, and time consuming of each individual step of the patients’ journey can have

multiple benefits, it is important to maintain its focus on improving safety of the patients and the

services they receive (David & Mehul, 2018 p.1). The general redesigning of the hospital

operating services as well as the implementation and utilization of the available integrated

healthcare programs are not largely considered as one of the critical strategies to be used in

decreasing the utilization of resources and improving the quality of healthcare services provided.

From a hypothetical point of view, although the field of healthcare services operations has

changed greatly, what the hospital fails to recognize is the manner in which modern clinical

trends have been impacting the delivery of healthcare services within its operating room.

Various impressive researches take into consideration various disciplines such as organizational

behavior, economics, and logistics because they assist in enlarging individual knowledge
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 4

regarding the healthcare operating services which the hospital provides (Jan & Robbert, 2014

p.2). Considering the hospital’s level of supply chain management, the available knowledge

concerning the healthcare sector still appears to be uneven within this institution. Despite the fact

that a large percentage of healthcare organizations have ended up recognizing the significance of

establishing effective supply chain management principles, the general application of practices,

procedures, and other healthcare promoting activities have not yet been administered accordingly

(Brecht et al., 2009 p.4). This is what keeps on increasing the cost of delays within the operating

room.

Nonetheless, from historical perspectives, the focus within the healthcare organizations

has gradually taken into account the significance of individual practices towards a chain supply

orientation. Nowadays, the majority of the healthcare organizations take into consideration

management, as well as, the control of personal clinical practices as a means of becoming

competitive. As a result of that, the availability of various mathematical models and tools is what

the Arizona State Hospital have also failed to take into consideration during the planning and

controlling its operating processes in their health environment (Jan & Robbert, 2014 p.4). Thus,

the increasing possibilities of information and communication technologies is also another

factors which keeps on impacting the delivery of effective healthcare services not only in the

operating room, but also in the entire hospital. Consequently, the use of the enterprise resource

planning (ERP) software is regarded as being the main driving force behind the strong focus of

healthcare institutions. This strategy is important because if assist in controlling the flow of

patients in the operating room in a more integrated way. The general absence of this system in

place have made it impossible for the management authority of the Arizona State Hospital to

automate, standardize, and integrate operating processes within it and all over their value chains.
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 5

Considering the importance of this system, it means that the management authority are

always given the opportunity of making informed decisions which in return makes the hospital’s

operating department to be more coherent and integrated. The utilization of master production

schedule, coordinating different operating planning level, as well as, the establishment of control,

and planning frameworks are some of the illustrative examples which assist in improving the

health status of an individual and the patients flow. Both in practice and theory, it logical to say

that it is the integration of material and information flow in the entire supply chain does not have

the potential of improving the external and internal performance of the hospital. Despite that, the

reason as to why there is some inefficiency in the hospital’s supply chain management

philosophy is because it does not receive adequate attention from the field of operation

management, logistics, and other areas (Hoeijmans et al., 2015 p.5).

The managerial aspect of providing health care services to various patients in this

hospital has become increasingly vital. Some of the operating strategies that have been used by

the hospital do not take into consideration the importance of reducing costs as well as improving

its financial assets. The objective behind this is the need of maximizing the level of patient

satisfaction. One of the departments that have a lot of activities within this hospital is the

operating theater. Due to the fact that this hospital department is the one which incurs largest

costs, it has the major impacts on the performance of their organization as a whole. Furthermore,

the general management of the operating theater is something which has continued to be

relatively hard because of the conflicting priorities and preferences of the stakeholders. This is

also induced by the continued lack of costly resources that are needed in improving the

healthcare services offered to the patients just within the hospital’s drug supply chain (Brecht et

al., 2009 p.5). Another reason which has been making the hospital’s logistics to fail in
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 6

acknowledging the health needs of their clients. This is attributed by the failure of the healthcare

managers to anticipate the rising demand for surgical health care services caused by the aging

generation. These factors necessitate the need for efficiency, as well as, the establishment of

adequate scheduling and planning procedures in the operating room.

From the hospital’s logistic point of view, it means that the leveling of resources, for

instance, the establishment of operating room schedules which results to smooth operations is an

integral aspect the management authorities have been failing to take into consideration. Other

than the operating room itself, the occupancy of various resources in managing the needs of each

department is something which have been impacting the healthcare services the hospital have

been providing. The idea behind this entails minimizing the risks associated with capacity

problems which are mainly brought about by the some of the unexpected events, such as the

lengthy stay of patients or lengthy procedural times (Jan & Robbert, 2014 p.5).

The continued usage of the discrete-event simulation is also another factor which has

been impacting the evaluation of the hospital’s standard sequencing rules. Some of the strategies

which are considered are the manner in which some of the shortest cases first or longer cases

first have been assisting the hospital in reducing the peak number of clients in both the PACU

and the holding area. Since the hospital’s operating rooms are ultimately sequenced indifferently,

this is a primary factor that has resulted in the increased complexity of the services that the

hospital has been offering. It should, therefore, be recognized that some of the sequencing

decisions in any of the operating room have been having disastrous impacts on the preferred

sequence in other departments. It means that it is the sequencing decisions that the hospital has

been having determined the capacity of the operating theater (David & Mehul, 2018 p.5).
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 7

Ascertaining of the hospital’s drug and service supply chain management

Despite the fact that various approaches, such as the make span are often used for

measuring the capacity of the hospital’s operating room and the delivery of healthcare services to

patients, it ought to be studied with other resources like the PACU. The decreasing need for this

approach mainly involves dense scheduling of activities within this institution. What the hospital

failed to be acknowledged is the need of combining it with other protective measures which will

assist in increasing its robustness and stability. Consequently, it can be illustrated that some of

the financial goals of the Arizona State Hospital are the one which have negatively impacted the

healthcare services provided within the operating rooms and in other departments. Undeniably,

in case the planning model or the operating scheduling results to cost saving, the organization

have been failing to invest the revenues obtained in solving some of the problems mentioned

above (Hoeijmans et al., 2015 p.2). For example, long waiting hours can either be decreased

through installing more hospital capacity. It is, therefore, believed that various financial issues

the hospital has been encountering are because they are often overlooked. Similarly, certainty

usually developed in a healthcare institution in which the general wastage of capacity still

remains to be a major problem. Another category concerning the equitability of the healthcare

services typically do not take into consideration the preferences various parties which are

involved in the operating process. Within this hospital, it have been recognized that in most cases

surgeons end up disputing the timing assigned to each activity. Patients also have been noted to

encounter conflicting preferences with regard to the timing of their healthcare services (David &

Mehul, 2018 p.4).

The uncertainty operating competency of the Arizona State Hospital

 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 8

Uncertainty is the Arizona State Hospital is usually associated with the establishment of

effective capacity planning models or operating room schedules. Deterministic scheduling and

planning approaches that the hospital have been using always do not take into consideration such

variability or uncertainty. The reason for that is because some of the stochastic approaches have

been extensively used in incorporating these strategies. Although there are various manuscripts,

which can be used in promoting the health care services that they provide, some of the

uncertainties that need to be taken into consideration are the arrival variability and the timing

uncertainty. The lateness of the surgery session, for instance, is what represents the hospital’s

deviations which exist between the planned and the actual duration of activities associated with

surgical processes (Brecht et al., 2009 p.2).

The essence of operational and logistics management techniques have the capacity

dealing with stochasticity, particularly the analytical procedure and simulation techniques. Thus,

the inadequate scheduling and planning approaches that the hospital has been establishing have

been increasing the negative impacts of uncertainty. Limited attention is also paid to the need of

reducing uncertainty within individual processes. It is important for the management authority of

the Arizona State Hospital to ensure that each employee have the ability of reducing uncertainty

found in his or her clinical processes (Hoeijmans et al., 2015 p.4). Regardless of the number of

perspectives, an emphasis on improving performance as well as the elimination of waste through

coordinating supply chains is always regarded as being the main issues surrounding the supply

chain management of the hospital. Such a focus if usually reflected on the exchange of materials,

products, and information required facilitating the flow of patients within this institution.

Considering the views of the operational management authority, the focus of their healthcare

sector is mainly concerned on the need with the optimizing individual processes. An example of
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 9

this is the poor application of operating research methods in optimizing inventory levels of

drugs, as well as, the other method which the hospital used in optimizing the ordering process of

pharmaceuticals and care-related products (David & Mehul, 2018 p.2).

Conclusion

In the hospital setting, service management is mainly concerned with the management of

patients flow and the clinical services that they receive. Each day a person comes into contact

with an abundant assortment of healthcare services in Arizona State Hospital, all of them depend

on the supervision of the healthcare provider. This means that in case effective operational

management is not instilled, the hospital will not thrive well. This is because efficient operational

and capacity management is regarded as an engine for creating equitable utilization of resources

and dissemination of drugs. Consequently, as to any healthcare organization, an operations

manager has vital responsibilities in production and provision of clinical service. In the Arizona

State Hospital, process-flow analysis assists its manager to carefully analyze the chain supply

flowchart as well as the information flow, and the flow of drugs from one department to another.

In the process of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their healthcare process, there are

several elements which ought to be taken into consideration. Some of these include issues like

job design, and equipment control. The main elements concerning the logistic system of this

hospital are mainly aimed at managing the demand for healthcare services and supply chain

found within their environment. To make concise improvements, it is recommended to increase

coordination within and across other healthcare institutions. This is what will assist in

eliminating the clinical healthcare uncertainties which exists within the hospital.
 Inefficiency Operating Room and Cost of Delays in Arizona State Hospital 10

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