The importance of lean thought and its applicability in health services: the example of Private Medicabil Hospital

In today's world, traditional business management has left its place to contemporary and competitive business management. It is inevitable for healthcare enterprises to consider applying the "lean management" approach that aims to eliminate waste by becoming a part of this system with increasing the quality in their businesses, ensuring patient and employee safety, minimizing medical errors that might occur. Because the lean approach eliminates activities that do not create value and reduces the time spent for value-added work. This thesis study was carried out to revealing whether lean perception and knowledge awareness of private Medicabil hospital employees in Bursa province who perform Lean health services trainings and practices have significant differences according to demographic characteristics. The study consists of three parts. In the first chapter, lean production and concepts are theoretically examined. In the second chapter, the concepts of lean management and lean hospitals are discussed. The third chapter includes the research part of the study. In the research, Private Medicabil Hospital employees were surveyed about what problems / errors and wastes they had experienced most in their institutions and their opinions about lean thinking and lean management. According to the analysis of study data, significant differences were found in terms of demographic characteristics and the situation of encountering with the concept of lean health, lean health-related trainings, participation in congresses, problems and waste they faced at the hospital, what the concept of lean thinking means, the reasons for applying lean management and the obstacles to it. Key Words: Lean Thinking, Lean Management, Lean Hospital, Lean Healthcare