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Case Study – MG Hospital |1
BUSI 3321 – Operations Management
Section 201
Case Study – Massachusetts General Hospital:
Inventory Management
Done By:
Amirah Al-Otaibi / 201001687
Haifa Fakhro / 200900855
Ala’a Al-Sheddi / 201000377
Submitted to: Dr. Dalia M. Younis
November 10, 2012
Case Study – MG Hospital |2
Table of Contents
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………….………3
Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…………..4
Operations and Key Processes of Radiology Industry ………………………………………….4
Operations in the Massachusetts General Hospital ……………………………………………..5
Automated Inventory Tracking System in Massachusetts General Hospital………………..…. 8
Problems with Automated Inventory Tracking Systems…………………………………….…..8
Solutions & Suggestions………………………………………………………………………... 10
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………… 10
References……………………………………………………………………………………… 11
Case Study – MG Hospital |3
Abstract
Nowadays operation management became the guide in each company, it's a process that helps the
manager to have a clear vision of where the industry is going. In this case we will analyze the
radiology operation management at the Massachusetts General Hospital. We will discuss the
operations and key processes of the industry in general, we will then move on to the operations
held in the Massachusetts General Hospital and talk about problems in their operations, and offer
some suggestions.
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Introduction
At this age and time with the intense changes between demand and supply, it is very
important for a firm to efficiently and competently manage their inventory. Not managing an
inventory efficiently could cost a lot of loses to the firm itself. And hospitals are not an
exception. Massachusetts General Hospital, is seeking ways to efficiently manage their inventory
and databases, reducing on-hand stock value, decreasing the need of physical space and utilizing
data to help physicians decide what and how much to keep in inventories.
In order to accomplish these objectives, it is vital to understand and identify the processes
and operations that are being held in the hospital. To understand what these operations and
processes are, to identify what the equipment and tools does these operations and processes
require, and to measure for how long do they need it and when does it expires. Only then, we can
make sound decisions on how much supplies do the hospital need and how to manage it as
effectively and efficiently as possible.
Operations and Key Processes of Radiology Industry:
Radiology is a medical specialty that employees use the imaging to both diagnose and
treat disease within the human body, and they use technologies (such as X-ray radiography,
ultrasound). And nowadays it's become a must in each hospital because of that the managers in
the hospital try to develop and understand the operating management for the radiology.
There are four basics general areas for operations management in radiology; first the
operational foundation it's about developing the service area, building a relationship with
companies, record processes, and developing the steps and protocols (Foreman, 2010). And that
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will help the hospital to build a good radiology department but it must change based on in
customer needs. Secondly, marketing imaging services, it's about the principles of marketing and
it's discusses the marketing principles and the devolving, evaluating plans. That’s will help the
hospital to attract the costumers and show them the capabilities that they can offer.
Third area is Customer Management and Satisfaction; it's about identifying the customer
and targeting their needs from (patients to physicians). Also they measure the qualitative and
quantities customer satisfaction. Also they discussed and develop the analyzing and applying
data. And this is one of the most important areas; because customer satisfaction is what keeps the
hospital works and it's the organization goal and the customer service is the core of successful
business operations. Fourth and last aspect is managing performance quality, reviews four
commonly used models and provides helpful examples and applications of these tools. And these
areas are important to know if the process of the operating management is working successfully
(Foreman, 2010).
Operations in the Massachusetts General Hospital:
To identify the hospitals operations and processes, we must first identify the departments
within this particular hospital. There are many departments and centers in Massachusetts General
Hospital for it has been under operation since 1811. These departments and centers are:
Department of Anesthesia, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Critical Care Center, Department
of Dermatology, Digestive Healthcare Center, Pelvic Floor Disorders Service, Department of
Emergency Medicine, Division of Global Health & Human Rights, Heart Center Imaging (3D
Imaging Services), Department of Medicine (Allergy and Immunology, Cardiology Division,
Diabetes, Endocrine, Gastroenterology, Geriatric Medicine Unit, Infectious Diseases Division,
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Nephrology Division, Neuroendocrine Unit, Palliative Care, Pulmonary and Critical Care
Medicine, Reproductive Endocrine Unit, Rheumatology, The Stoeckle Center) Department of
Molecular Biology, Department of Neurology, Department of Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and
Gynecology Fertility Center, Pelvic Floor Disorders Service, Department of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery, Division of Dentistry Mass. Eye and Ear / Mass General, Department of
Ophthalmology Department of Pathology Patient Care Services, Maxwell & Eleanor Blum
Patient and Family Learning Center, Social Services Speech Disorders, Physical Medicine &
Rehabilitation Service, Department of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiology,
Department of Surgery, Transplant Center, Department of Urology, Vascular Center
(Massgeneral, n.d.).
Each one of these departments has their own special operations, and each operation is
divided into parts. Each particular part is handled by different people depending on their
specialization; because having specialized people in a specific area helps them become more
effective and swift in the process that they’re handling.
In our case study, the paper talks about the interventional Radiology Department. So, we
are going to talk about the procedures and operations that occur in the interventional radiology
department. First, we must explain what Interventional Radiology is. It is a type of treatment that
is used to treat with minimal risk using small needles or tubes (that are few millimeters in
diameter) these tubes or needles are guided by doctors through small incisions in the skin. They
are guided inside the patient’s body and observing it using X-ray, CT scans, ultrasound or MRI
(Pediatric Interventional Radiologists, n.d.). An example of Interventional radiology operations
are: collecting a sample of diseased tissues to diagnose or treat infection or a tumor, guide
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instruments through blood vessels to unblock them, guide instruments into abnormal bleeding
vessels and close off the bleeding (Pediatric Interventional Radiologists, n.d.).
Now before the patient goes through the treatment, he/she should discuss the possibility
of undergoing an interventional radiology with their primary physician. The physician shall
determine if the patient is eligible for an interventional radiology or not and whether they will
benefit from it or not. The radiologist then reviews the patients’ medical records and calculates
both the risks and the benefits. The patient usually undergoes the procedure in the same day.
After determining that the treatment is safe for the patient, the procedure starts by
inserting an intravenous catheter inside the patients hand or arm to help him/her relax and to
minimize discomfort of the treatment. Meanwhile, a specially trained nurse monitors the vital
signs of the patient and makes sure that everything is running smoothly. Once the patient is ready
to undergo the treatment, the doctor paints an antibacterial solution on the patients’ skin to kill
bacteria which will reduce the risk of infections. Sterile surgical drapes are then placed around
the area to prevent contamination of the area. The Radiologist then inserts a small amount of
local anesthesia in the area. This rarely causes discomfort.
When the skin is finally numb, a hollow needle or plastic sheath is inserted directly inside
a large blood vessel that needs to be treated. The needle is then guided through the vessel using
X-Ray, CT scan, ultrasound or MRI …etc. When the needle reaches its destination, it starts to
take sample, unclog vessel or stop abnormal bleeding using chemicals. After this process is done,
the patient is then transferred into a room where he/she can fully recover. The procedure is not
like a traditional surgery. Thus, the recovery time does not take as long as surgery recovery.
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Automated Inventory Tracking System in Massachusetts General Hospital:
We have learnt that the Interventional Radiology Department is being pressured to
manage their costly inventory of specialized medical devices, equipment and supplies in a more
cost effective way. The best way to manage such inventory is by implementing a new automated
tracking system. An automated tracking system is a set of hardware and software tools that
automate the process of tracking inventory (BarcodesInc, n.d.).
An automated tracking system is crucial to firms that have different types of items and
tools that must be organized in an efficient way, hospitals are included. By implementing this
tracking system, it will ensure the quality of items and it will minimize errors that would
typically occur because of the large number of goods. The system tracks items by using a barcode
scanner of which it will scan the barcodes on the items and stores that info into a database. This
database is located in a central computer system. Then, this data could be stored, retrieved and
viewed anytime. Also, these data will be processed and manipulated in a way that would make
them more useful and easier to understand rather than making employees do the analyzing
themselves. This way, it will not only save time, it will also minimize labor and as we previously
stated, minimizing the risk of errors (BarcodesInc, n.d.).
Problems with Automated Inventory Tracking Systems:
During our research on Automated Tracking systems, we have found out that there are
some disadvantages and problems that come along with using such a system. One of the
problems the hospital might face with the Automated Inventory Tracking System is errors with
the scanning bars. Any kind of item going into the inventory must possess a scanning code that is
attached to it, to be able to track the items once they are removed and have the database updated
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accordingly. If the scanning bars get destroyed with a scratch or a rip, the system will fail to scan
the item and the scanning code becomes unusable (Bosari, n.d.).
Another problem the hospital could face is failure of updating inventory. If the automated
trackong system dies or freezes because of battery or power problems or because of technical
errors, the hospital won’t be able to track the daily inventory activities. Therefore this will affect
the overall items available and in return the overall financial value causing issues with the debt
and credit balances of the hospital (Bosari, n.d.).
We have also found that the Massachusetts General Hospital could face issues with
automated tracking system entry cards. Only eligible and certified employees are allowed to
have access to the hospitals expensive machines and medications to avoid medicine abuse and
misuse. However, of the entry card of the employee is scratched it could prevent him/her from
accessing the inventory. This could cause problems because if that was the only employee is the
only individual with a card in a given shift, it will take hours to regain access to the inventory
again (Donavon, n.d.).
In addition, the complete inventory data can be erased or lost if the system goes through a
hard-drive error or failure. The hard-drive is the place where all the information about the
inventory and patients is stored in the hospital. So even though the chances of a hard-drive failure
is low, its occurance chance still exists. And if that happens, all information about medical
equipment and medicinces, financial value, supply orders and patients records can be gone. This
can be disastourous and will require lots of time and labor to able to recover from it (Donavon,
n.d.).
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Solutions & Suggestions:
To avoid any of the problems we have mentioned above from happening, we came up
with the following suggestions. First, workers handling inventory items must handle them with
care and caution, to avoid any kind bar code scratching. Also, bar code stickers should be made
out of a more durable material so it won’t get destroyed easily. The hospital should also keep
spare entry cards for any kind of emergency or mistake with a security guard or another credible
authority. We also suggest that the company should always keep a back up file of its hard-drive
in case of any failure or power loss. And they should make daily checks whether all the inventory
has been updated correctly.
If the hospital takes these preventative methods it will be able to use the automated
tracking system effectively with very small chances of error. Since the system is very intelligent
and cost and time effective, all it needs is a staff that deals with it carefully and cautiously to
operate it smoothly and without any kind of issues.
Conclusion:
Using intelligent systems such as the Automated Inventory Tracking system can give
great advantages to an organization. Like in our case of MG Hospital, not only did it bring more
profits to the hospital, it also helped with effectiveness of hospitals operations. They are always
updated, and can easily access inventory and find out what they have and what they need to
order. This will help the hospital perform on higher levels and help employees do their jobs as
productively and efficiently as possible. So in the long run the organization can be more likely to
achieve success. Even though the system has some flaws, they can be easily avoided by taking
some simple preventative measures. Overall, this system added a lot of value to the effectiveness
of the hospitals operations.
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References
BarcodesInc. (n.d.). Inventory Control System. Retrieved November 9, 2012, from
http://www.barcodesinc.com/articles/inventory-control-system.htm
Bosari, Jessica. "Inventory Management ." n.d. askdeb.com. 8 November 2012.
Donavon, R M. "Inventory Control: Improving the Bottom Line." n.d. R. Michael Donavon &
Co. Management Consultant . 8 November 2012.
Interventional Radiology Offers Surgery Alternative To Many. (n.d.). Yale University Interventional Radiology, radiology, fibroid, fibroids, embolization, uterine, varicose,
varicocele, interventional, radiology. Retrieved November 8, 2012, from
http://www.yaleir.vasculardomain.com/images/uploaded/yale/ir_alternative.cfm
Mass General Departments & Services Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
(n.d.).massgeneral. Retrieved November 8, 2012, from http://www.massgeneral.org/viewall/
Operations Management in Radiology. M. Shane Foreman, MSALaverna Hubbard, CRA,Luis O.
Marquez, MBA, MPH, FAHRA, CRA. Retrieve 2010 from:
http://www.ahraonline.org/AM/Downloads/Products/OpMgmt_TOC.pdf
Pediatric Interventional Radiologists « SPIR Web. (n.d.). SPIR Web. Retrieved November 8,
2012, from http://spirweb.org/pediatric-interventional-radiologists