[Application of lean management in cost control of cerebral infarction single disease in stroke center]

To explore the effect of lean management on cost control of single disease in patients with acute cerebral infarction (ACI) in stroke center.

A retrospective study was conducted. The patients with ACI who underwent intravenous thrombolysis in the stroke center of Taizhou Central Hospital in Zhejiang Province were enrolled. Thirty patients adopted traditional management procedures from July 2016 to September 2017 were enrolled in the control group, and 32 patients received lean management from October 2017 to December 2018 were enrolled in the lean group. The patients in the control group were treated with traditional intravenous thrombolysis, and the patients were sent to the neurology ward for intravenous thrombolysis. The patients in the lean group applied lean management value stream to optimize process management, the lean management team of the stroke center was established, and the green channel for stroke treatment was established to eliminate the waiting time as far as possible. The location of thrombolysis was changed from neurology ward to the neurological intensive care unit (NICU) in emergency department. The patients in the two groups were compared in terms of intravenous thrombolytic door-to-needle time (DNT), admission time to the neurologist's visit time (T1), CT examination time to neurology ward or NICU admission time (T2), neurology ward/NICU visit time to medication time (T3), and the proportion of patients with DNT controlled within 40 minutes, recovery of neurological impairment 7 days after thrombolysis [national institutes of health stroke scale (NIHSS) score], activity of daily living assessment (Barthel index), length of hospital stay, cost of hospital stay and patient satisfaction. At the same time, the main process quality and the implementation rate of easily missed indexes of cerebral infarction single disease were recorded.

Compared with the control group, DNT, T1 and T2 in the lean group were significantly shortened [DNT (minutes): 39.56±11.12 vs. 63.03±19.63, T1 (minutes): 16.23±6.79 vs. 33.48±12.63, T2 (minutes): 13.45±3.84 vs. 17.47±5.56, all P < 0.01], T3 was slightly shortened (minutes: 9.88±1.95 vs. 10.95±2.69, P > 0.05), and the proportion of DNT control within 40 minutes was significantly increased [75.0% (24/32) vs. 16.7% (5/30), P < 0.01], the 7-day NIHSS score was decreased significantly (8.66±4.12 vs. 13.00±5.63, P < 0.01), 7-day Barthel index was increased significantly (71.6±16.7 vs. 54.7±17.1, P < 0.01), the length of hospital stay was significantly shortened (days: 9.69±4.06 vs. 12.47±3.83, P < 0.01), the hospital costs were significantly reduced (Yuan: 16 338±5 481 vs. 19 470±5 495, P < 0.05), the satisfaction of patients was improved significantly [(91.38±2.69)% vs. (86.53±2.78)%, P < 0.01]. In terms of the implementation rate of quality indicators such as pre-application evaluation of thrombolytic drugs, evaluation of dysphagia, and evaluation of vascular function, health education of ACI, rehabilitation evaluation and implementation within 24 hours, etc., the lean group was significantly improved as compared with the control group [(87.5% (28/32) vs. 53.3% (16/30), 96.9% (31/32) vs. 73.3% (22/30), 78.1% (25/32) vs. 43.3% (13/30), 100.0% (32/32) vs. 76.7% (23/30), 75.0% (24/32) vs. 33.3% (10/30), all P < 0.05].

Lean thinking can realize the standardization of stroke center process, effectively utilize medical resources, improve medical quality and reduce the cost of cerebral infarction single disease.