130834 20241125101157.0 doi 10.3390/app14010241 sideral 136690 ART-2023-136690 eng Acero, Raquel Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-4917-8550 Integrating Lean and Automation for Enhanced Serology Diagnosis Efficiency in Tertiary Healthcare Microbiology Laboratories 2023 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted Healthcare services and institutions are focused on providing the most appropriate medical service in terms of patient safety and satisfaction outcomes. According to Lean methodologies, effectiveness and efficiency can be improved by assuring value-added processes. This article presents a joint approach for the development and implementation of Lean techniques combined with Total Laboratory Automation (TLA) for serology diagnosis in a microbiology laboratory in a tertiary-level hospital. The results obtained show an improvement in the process efficiency and its key performance indicators. In particular, for the HIV and COVID tests, the process Turnaround Times (TAT) were decreased by up to 87.3% and 19.3%, having a direct effect in the diagnostic response time. The process added-value for HIV tests increased by 81%. This meant a cost reduction per test, a higher number of diagnostic tests and clinical samples processed and laboratory resource optimisation. The implementation of TLA also enabled the reallocation of skilled labour towards value-added tasks, increased the process quality and reduced sample waiting times. This work opens up new opportunities for their deployment in other laboratory areas and sample types, directly influencing the overall quality of patient diagnosis in the context of tertiary healthcare facilities. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/T56-23R info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ 2.5 2023 ENGINEERING, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 44 / 181 = 0.243 2023 Q1 T1 PHYSICS, APPLIED 87 / 179 = 0.486 2023 Q2 T2 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 115 / 231 = 0.498 2023 Q2 T2 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 258 / 439 = 0.588 2023 Q3 T2 0.508 2023 Engineering (miscellaneous) 2023 Q2 Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes 2023 Q2 Materials Science (miscellaneous) 2023 Q2 Instrumentation 2023 Q2 Process Chemistry and Technology 2023 Q3 Computer Science Applications 2023 Q3 5.3 2023 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Torralba, Marta (orcid)0000-0002-3069-2736 Valverde, Emilio-David Roc, Lourdes Rezusta, Antonio (orcid)0000-0001-7294-245X 5002 515 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ingeniería Diseño Fabri. Área Ing. Procesos Fabricación 14, 1 (2023), 241 Appl. sci. Applied Sciences (Switzerland) 2076-3417 2267008 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/130834/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2713742 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/130834/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:130834 articulos driver 2024-11-22-12:10:07 ARTICLE