Continuous improvement through the implementation of BPR in health services

This paper presents a process model of a hospital imaging department within a broader Australian healthcare setting, contributing to understanding department inter-dependencies on patient flow. The process maps, along with selected performance measures, form the basis for visual representations of patient flow in different scenarios. Although improvement achieved by using Business Process Reengineering (BPR) principles, like Event–driven Process Chain (EPC) methodology, is not new, this work’s contribution to knowledge is that practitioner acceptance was gained by communication of improvement strategies through visual simulation of the hospital imaging department. Based on process maps of observed current practice, the proposed improvements aim to eliminate waste as well as simplify and integrate selected health service processes. In this study, computer-based business process modelling, as part of BPR is shown to be a useful tool to display processes visually, aiding practitioner acceptance of changing procedure mix and timeslot duration in the imaging department. It demonstrates tools that aid the communication of likely impacts of projected changes to schedules and demands upon Emergency Department (ED) resources, providing hospital managers with accurate data for operational and strategic decisions. The paper concludes by considering the difficulties and limitations of this approach when improving health service processes and patient flow. It then concludes with recommendations for the use of visualisation tools to facilitate acceptance of innovative BPR projects.