Process improvement in laboratory medicine for patient satisfaction

In today's health care reformation, called ObamaCare, patient satisfaction plays a prominent role. When facing the increased demand for quality patient care and safety, quality medical service must be improved in various ways by medical professionals and ancillary staff, including clinical laboratory personnel. From the perspective of laboratory medicine, patient satisfaction can be achieved by consistently delivering accurate and reliable laboratory results in a timely manner. This study examines the correlation between patient satisfaction and laboratory personnel job satisfaction levels. Process observation by utilizing root cause analysis and Lean tools is used to investigate whether implemented process improvements promote the efficiency of laboratory service. Statistical data analysis is used to draw conclusions on whether the implemented process improvement has a significant impact on employee and patient satisfaction. This thesis highlights the importance of maintaining continuous process improvement over an extended period of time to achieve and sustain patient satisfaction