Smaïl Benzidia

Traceability project of a blood supply chain

ABSTRACT To address security issues and quality, blood transfusion centres (BTCs) were led to implement a traceability system. This approach not only helps to protect sensitive and confidential data, but also to trace exhaustively blood products throughout the transfusion chain. In addition, traceability allows organisations to optimize their internal processes and move towards a better integration of the supply chain. However, the design and implementation of a traceability project based on information system (IS) involve strategic and organisational issues that the top management and the project team should anticipate and control to ensure the required performance. The qualitative study of a European BTC contributes to the understanding of the relationship between the managerial variables and internal project performance, and also the impact of IS project on the supply chain.

Les facteurs d’adoption d’une innovation appliquée aux flux de patients : le cas d’un centre hospitalier au Luxembourg

RÉSUMÉ La réduction des coûts et l’amélioration de la qualité de service représentent aujourd’hui des enjeux majeurs dans le management des opérations de l’hôpital et plus particulièrement celles relatives aux flux de patients. Dans ce contexte, l’innovation peut jouer un rôle important et créer de la valeur. Peu de travaux de recherche ont étudié l’innovation en relation avec la logistique hospitalière d’où l’intérêt de cette étude. La recherche présentée se focalise sur la compréhension des facteurs d’adoption de l’innovation par un centre hospitalier dans le cadre d’une démarche de traçabilité des flux de patients.

Healthcare logistics and supply chain – issues and future challenges

For the past 15 years, the logistics function has gained a strategic place in the management of hospitals (Volland et al., 2017). Nowadays, we are also witnessing several strategic decisions related to logistics such as the outsourcing of certain activities in the hospital supply chain (purchasing and supply management, sterilization, stock management or intra and inter-site transport, etc.). Hospital managers have also implemented various tools and methods of lean management allowing a continuous improvement approach. Therefore, significant results were achieved in reducing errors, improving process quality and reducing wait times (Mazzocato et al., 2010). Against the background of the complexity of the hospital system, the variability and unpredictability of the patient profile and the high demand for care (Wieser 2011; Bourlakis et al. 2011), logistics is considered as an effective solution in the organization of working time to care staff by offering them the opportunity to concentrate on their core activities and improve patient care conditions (Landry and Beaulieu 2001). The management of logistics activities goes beyond traditional physical flows, and it considers other flows such as patients throughout the care chain. Patient management incorporates several multidisciplinary and interdependent medical and administrative steps that require controlled interconnection and synchronization to avoid problems with wait times, misuse of medical resources etc. Several studies have focused on the trajectory of intra-site patients by proposing innovative practices to optimize their circulation and ensure the safety of their stay in care units or medical-technical services (Shen et al. 2007). Inter-hospital transfers of patients also require efficient logistics between the partner network (hospital, laboratory, blood transfusion center, etc.) as they generate significant costs and there is a potential danger of information loss or medical complication. Finally, the research related to patient flows studied the issue of administrative practice in terms of treatment and monitoring of medical data of patients throughout the care process. Hospital flows have also benefited from the technological progress of information systems and the emergence of new IT tools with high added value (Radio Frequency Identification, Entreprise Ressource Planning, mobile application, etc.). Health organizations have tried to seize the opportunity offered by ICTs to move towards a new management based on the control of financial, administrative and medical aspects. Existing research has investigated solutions to optimize the processing of financial information for cost control (Patel et al. 2000; Ash, Berg, and Coiera 2004; Garg and Agarwal 2014). Other studies have analyzed the circulation of physical flows by focusing on other issues related, for example, to the traceability of blood flows, the elimination of waste or the management of pharmaceutical flows (Chaerul, Tanaka, and Shekdar 2007; Narayana, Pati, and Vrat 2014; Bentahar, Benzidia, and Fabbri 2016). Information flows are a source of improvement of the medical practices of patient flows. Tools such as the electronic patient record play a key role in recording the data by providing detailed information about the history of the patient file. They also constitute a communication medium between the services of the organization and support the information sharing between the partner institutions (laboratory, hospital, blood transfusion center, etc.). Internal external integration is therefore challenging for hospitals. The desire to industrialize the health sector by applying lean logistic practices and methods requires sufficient adaptation time and feedback from stakeholders to be able to concretely evaluate its contributions (Mazzocato et al. 2010). To date, very few health establishments have been able to generalize these practices across their entire processes. Two of the obstacles to the full implementation of industrialization is linked to bureaucratization and the top management commitment. Logistics culture is not sufficiently anchored in the strategic vision of hospitals (Benzidia et al. 2016). In addition, an efficient logistic approach is also based on the qualification and skills of major actors (purchasers, logistics managers, nurses, etc.). Hospitals should strengthen this aspect by setting up an awareness campaign and a recruitment policy adapted to the requirements of

Investigating automation and AGV in healthcare logistics: a case study based approach

ABSTRACT In France, as in numerous countries, healthcare organisations are undergoing major transformations, leading them to rationalise their resources and optimize their flows. In this context, automation can play an important role, enabling value creation and patient satisfaction. Previous research has mainly focused on the technological aspects of automation, neglecting the organisational issues related to the implementation of this innovation and particularly the management of the hospital staff, including logistics personnel, involved within the organisational change process. The aim of this article is, at least, to partly address this gap within the literature, and to propose, based on an exploratory case study, an analysis grid of the challenges and changes in terms of logistics flows (pharmaceutical, waste, laundry, etc.) that impact staff involved in managing these flows in a hospital context. Our results highlight the importance and necessity of anticipating the building and deployment of new knowledge and skills in order to efficiently and effectively design and manage automated logistics flows with AGV system.