Process mining project methodology in healthcare: a case study in a tertiary hospital

Abstract

Process mapping in the healthcare environment provides several managerial benefits, which are reflected in the quality of patient care. Among the ways to map the processes, a method called "process mining" has been used in several contexts and has presented interesting results. However, there is a lack of studies focused on the standardisation of the process mining application process. To bridge this gap, the present study developed a methodology for the application of process mining in healthcare entitled Process Mining Project Methodology in Healthcare (PM2HC). This methodology was developed over a series of steps involving bibliographical reviews on the methodologies of application of process mining in the general and on applications of process mining in health case studies. The used databases were Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed and Google Scholar. From the articles that met the established quality criteria (relative to the publication source, number of citations, among others), elements that contributed to the deployment process application were identified. Based on these elements, the process mining application methodologies were evaluated and the PM2 was selected as the base model. In addition to the elements extracted from the articles, some more technical aspects were also added to make the PM2 adapted to the health environment, becoming PM2HC. Finally, the PM2HC was applied in the Clinical Analysis Laboratory Unit of the Tertiary Clinical Hospital Complex of the Federal University of Parana to be evaluated in a situation with real process models and data. The results show that PM2HC provides more proximity between decision makers (stakeholders) and mining analysts, allowing the objectives to be better defined and, at the end of the project, it is possible to compare the result obtained with the expected of KPIs, for example). In addition, by addressing technical aspects throughout the project stages, the PM2HC provides guidelines for process mining analysts who do not have as much experience in the field.