IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW WORK PROCESS IN AN AMBULATORY CHEMOTHERAPY SERVICE IN A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF MACEIÓ – AL
Hospital management, Process management, Chemotherapy
The present study aims to present a proposal for a new work process to optimize the functioning of an outpatient chemotherapy service using process mapping as a strategic tool for both the analysis of the necessary requirements for its development and its contribution to the identification of possible standardizations and improvements in mapped processes. The outpatient chemotherapy service at the University Hospital Professor Alberto Antunes (HUPAA / UFAL / EBSERH) in Alagoas was used because it was showing low productivity, long waiting time for patients to start treatment and complaint of the professional team overload service. The methodology was based on a literature review to support the project discussions. Sequentially, the process mapping, the identification of the critical nodes of the process and the identification of the critical nodes of the process were carried out together with the observation of the service dynamics and based on the concepts of process management. construction of a new process mapping that illustrates the work process implemented. In order to evaluate the impact of the new process implemented on the quality of the service, parameterized indicators were established before and after implementation. It was verified that the procedures performed in the service are complex and dependent on manual labor tools and not integrated among the sectors that compose it, which caused problems such as communication failures, divergences of information due to lack of understanding of the service processes by the care team and greater expenditure of resources with direct impact on productivity. The team work mapping, associated to the understanding of the process and the redesign and implementation of a new model showed a significant positive impact on the quality of the service provided, with a significant improvement in the indicators of patient waiting time, service productivity and billing.