The Utilization of Lean Management in Nursing Handover at a Psychiatric Acute Ward

Abstract

Efficient handover is essential to ensuring high levels of caring quality and patient safety. In our psychiatric acute ward, it was noticed that there were many valueless tasks being performed during the nursing handover process that negatively affected efficiency. To apply lean management principles to improve the nursing handover process in the psychiatric acute ward. In order to find the rightful solution, our task team analyzed the problem using the Value Chart of Lean Management and detected that the handover process was slowed down by motion, waiting, and defects. According to the rules of lean management, group discussion, decision making, and the cost-benefit matrix, we proposed improvement solutions including visual stocktaking, adjusting handover patterns, switching the handover location, and systematizing nursing handover procedures. The time required for stocktaking was shortened from 5 to 2 minutes (60% improvement). The waiting time was shortened from 114 to 49.6 minutes (56.6% improvement). The efficiency of the handover process increased from 66% to 90%. Applying lean management principles helped detect critical problems and reduce waste, which enhanced efficiency, improved handover, and helped maximize nursing value and benefit in an increasingly complex environment.