Identifying and Analyzing Lean Criteria in Health Services Industry: A Case Study

The aim of this study was to identify and analyze the lean criteria at health centers and to provide practical recommendations based on the results of field research in order to improve management function and efficiency at health sectors.
This study is an applied descriptive survey. The instrument were two questionnaires, one a Likert type and the other used for pair comparison. It was conducted in 1394-1395 and the population comprised the employees at Peimaniyeh Hospital in Jahrom-Iran. For the first group, 196 sampling was accomplished using random sampling method and 196 participants were selected. The second group of participants included 15 experts. Data were analyzed using Mean comparison Test with constant number (in order to measure the status of criteria) with SPSS. Furthermore, prioritizing criteria and attributes were accomplished using FAHP method.
According to the preliminary research hypothesis, the significance level of the test was 0.001 (less than 0.05). Therefore, all assumptions were rejected at the level of 0.05 showing that the situation in all lean standards in Peymanieh Hospital was desirable. Then, based on FAHP, the criterion to create tension in the value chain, weighing 0.292, was the highest one and its index (quick change in the services) received the highest rating among others with a weight of 0.286.
According to the results, the components with higher priority should be given more attention in this organization. Efforts should also be made to identify issues and to create ongoing value stream and waste elimination as much as possible.