At the beginning of the 21st century, Lean Management (LM) tools were introduced into the healthcare sector around the world. In Poland, there are still few LM implementations, and they are not of a comprehensive nature. The aim of this article is to present the application of the LM concept in a hospital in Poland as a tool for the identification and analysis of waste and its impact on the process of organizing the provision of medical services on the example of improvements in the process of patient admission. In the period from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2019, a project of LM implementation was carried out at the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Wroclaw. The project was based on the method of value-stream mapping and 5Why. Standardized interviews (before and after the project) were conducted with people from the hospital management and middle-level managers. The implementation of LM tools resulted in the identification of a number of wastes, which have been divided into groups. The most important waste was paper medical documentation. Its change to an electronic form allowed for a better use of human capital resources; savings included 2.3 nursing positions and 1.09 medical staff positions.

The importance of telemedicine technologies around the world has been growing for many years, and it turned out to be a particularly important issue for conducting some medical procedures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It is necessary to create interdisciplinary teams to design and implement improved procedures using telemedicine tools. The aim of the article is to develop original, improved posthospital patient care process after total hip arthroplasty (THA) with the use of telemedicine technologies. In the study, a literature review and empirical research were used. The conducted research resulted in the designing an original posthospital patient care process after THA that uses telematics technologies. Due to the use of analyzed telemedicine technologies, the designed patient care process brings a possibility to increase the patient′s safety by monitoring life parameters, allowing for regular, remote contact with specialists and to be supervised remotely. All this may contribute to shortening the convalescence time, reducing the risk of complications, as well as reducing treatment costs. The designed model is ready for further clinical research with the participation of medical staff, patients after THA and patient caregivers.

Healthcare institutions in Poland constantly encounter challenges related both to the quality of provided services and to the pressures associated with treatment effectiveness and economic efficiency. The implemented solutions have a goal of improving the service quality of lowering the continuously increasing operational costs. The aim of this paper is to present the application of Lean Management (LM) tools in a Polish hospital, which allowed for the identification of prolonged stays as one of the main issues affecting the service costs and the deteriorating financial results of the hospital. The study was conducted in the neurology department and involved an analysis of data for the whole of 2019 and the first half of 2022. In addition, surveys were conducted among the medical staff to help identify the main causes of prolonged stays. Methods of data analysis and feasible solutions were developed in order to improve the economic efficiency of the unit. The analysis shows that the application of LM tools may contribute to improvement in the functioning of hospitals and that further studies should focus on the development of the method to evaluate efficiency of the implemented solutions intended at shortening the hospital stays of the patients.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the objectives of the health care system had to be adapted to the changing circumstances, in order to meet the health needs of patients, but also the expectations of medical workers related to ensuring safe working conditions in the crisis...

For many years, the importance of using telematic technologies in medicine has been growing, especially in the period of the coronavirus pandemic, when direct contact and supervision of medical personnel over the patient is difficult. The existing possibilities of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) are not fully used. The aim of the study is to identify the telemedicine technologies that can be used in future implementation projects of the posthospital patient care process after total hip arthroplasty (THA). The literature search is reported according to PRISMA 2020. The search strategy included databases and gray literature. In total, 28 articles (EMBASE, PubMed, PEDro) and 24 records from gray literature (Google Search and Technology presentations) were included in the research. This multi-source study analyzes the possibilities of using different technologies useful in the patient care process. The conducted research resulted in defining visual and wearable types of telemedicine technologies for the original posthospital patient care process after THA. As the needs of stakeholders in the posthospital patient care process after THA differ, the awareness of appropriate technologies selection, information flow, and its management importance are prerequisites for effective posthospital patient care with the use of telemedicine technologies.

Background: Managerial knowledge and skills as well as profound understanding of goals and objectives of management determine the effectiveness and efficiency in all areas of managerial activities. In particular, this applies to the quality of healthcare services, perceived as a compliance...