DALMINE
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Operations in the health context encompasses the process of designing, delivering, and improving the organizational and operational systems of health and social care facilities. Delivering a health service requires the coordination of a complex network of activities and resources: from patient intake, to the management of diagnostic and therapeutic pathways, to the optimal use of facilities, technologies and personnel, to post-discharge care and continuity of care. Operations Management in healthcare settings is concerned with orchestrating these processes effectively and efficiently, ensuring quality, safety, timeliness and sustainability of service.
In this context, the Course aims to provide students in the Master of Science in Management Engineering Health curriculum with a systemic view and analytical tools to address organizational challenges in the health sector. The course develops skills geared toward optimizing healthcare processes, both from the perspective of continuous improvement and radical innovation.
Upon completion of the course, students will:
- Understand the main concepts of Business Process Management as applied to processes in health care facilities.
- Apply methods and tools to analyze, model and simulate healthcare processes and evaluate improvement scenarios, using tools such as BPMN 2.0, Value Stream Mapping, Flow analysis
- Understand and apply the principles of Lean in Healthcare: 5S, SMED, etc
Course Prerequisites
Basics of Production Management.
Teaching Methods
Lectures aim to introduce and discuss the methods and the principles of management outlined in the objectives of the course.
The course material consists mainly of the slides available on the course page on the e-learning portal. The slides are complemented with further readings from the recommended books in the bibliography. The slides serve as a support to the classroom discussion: therefore, during the discussion in the classroom, further details not present on the slides may be provided.
During the semester, seminars held by industrial experts will be organized in order to improve the comprehension of the theoretical concepts and understand how they can be applied in a real environment. For the same purpose, an industrial visit will be organized.
The password to access the material published on the course e-learning portal is communicated during the first lecture of the course. If unable to attend the first lesson, please contact the professor by e-mail.
Assessment Methods
The evaluation consists of a written exam (approximately 1,5 hours long) and an oral exam. The written exam usually includes 10 true or false questions, 1 or 2 essay questions, 3 or 4 definitions and 2 exercises. The written exam mark can be up to 30/30. During the exam is forbidden to use the lecture material (notes, books, slides, etc.). If the mark of the written exam is at least 18/30, students are allowed to attend the oral exam. The oral test will have a maximum grade of 30/30, through the development and discussion of a case study related to the main topics of the course. The text of the assignment will be provided to the students during the semester. The home take assignment must be prepared in groups of max 3 people. The assignment discussion takes place in ad hoc sessions organized during / at the end of the semester (in this case the evaluation mark is valid for 1 year) or during the oral sessions that take place after having successfully passed the written exam. Usually, the oral discussion is organized 1 week after the written exam. The discussion lasts around 30 minutes for each assignment. The assignment is evaluated with a mark. The final mark of the oral exam is given by the arithmetic average of the assignments’ marks. If the oral examination is failed, the result of the written exam is cancelled.
HOME-TAKE ASSIGNMENT The home-take assignment is related to a specific part of the course. The home-take assignment can be discussed in a special session organized during/at the end of the semester or during the oral exam. The students are required to provide a presentation for the assignment and to upload it on the e-learning portal one week before the written exam. The students cannot upload the assignment after the deadline. The calendar with the deadlines will be uploaded to the e-learning portal. The assignment preparation favours the acquisition of the course concepts through their application to real cases and numerical examples; it also fosters the acquisition of communication and team-working skills. The assignments evaluation marks are published on the e-learning portal.
The final result is the average of the grades of the written and oral exams.
The exam structure is the same for attending and non-attending students. The final mark of the integrated exam is calculated as an arithmetic average of the marks achieved in the Operation Management Module and the Sistemi Integrati di Produzione Module.
Contents
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT A
Operations Strategy
- Define and explain the importance of Operations strategy
- Align Operations strategy with business objectives
Business Process Management (BPM)
- Describe the fundamental concepts of Business Process Management
- Apply a systemic approach to managing business processes
- Use methodologies and tools to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze Operations processes
Process Modeling
- Describe methods and techniques to model Operations processes
- Identify critical points and inefficiencies in processes
- Use BPMN to represent processes
- Use VSM to represent processes
HEALTHCARE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Principles of Lean Thinking
- Describe the fundamental concepts and principles of Lean Thinking
- Eliminate waste and continuously improve processes
- Apply lean principles to optimize processes
Kaizen
- Define and explain the general concepts of Kaizen
- Implement the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) and SDCA (Standardize-Do-Check-Act) cycles for continuous improvement
- Manage ideas, promote versatility and multi-skilling in Kaizen practice
Lean Thinking: Value Stream Mapping and Optimization Techniques
- Use Value Stream Mapping to analyze and optimize value streams
- Apply SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die), 5S, to optimize processes
KPI
- Measure Operations performance through key indicators
- Use indicators to monitor progress and make decisions