Abstract

Management of patient records in a hospital is of major importance, for its impact both on the quality of care and on the associated costs. Since this process is circular, the prevention of the building up of bottlenecks is especially important. Thus, the objective of this paper was to analyze whether the Theory of Constraints (TOC) can be useful to the logistics of medical records in hospitals. The paper is based on a case study conducted about the 2007-2011 period in the Medical Records Logistics Service at the Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena in Seville (Spain). From April 2008, a set of actions in the clinical record logistics system were implemented based on the application of TOC principles. The results obtained show a significant increase in the level of service and employee productivity, as well as a reduction of cost and the number of patients’ complaints.

Abstract

The implementation of electronic medical records has been of paramount importance in facilitating the access and availability of information in the medical treatment of patients. However, because different centers and areas have adopted heterogeneous information models and technical solutions to handle medical records there may be a risk when the patient requests medical assistance in a jurisdiction other than the one in which he normally seeks medical treatment. The international standards for medical records offer common models to organize information and ensure the exchange and interoperability between technical solutions. This paper analyzes the adoption of the main technical standards (ISO 13606 and HL7) in the Hcdsns project, developed by the Spanish Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad.