SynthesisInternational journal of health policy and management2025
A Systematic Review of Lean Implementation in Hospitals: Impact on Efficiency, Quality, Cost, and Satisfaction.
Synthesis in International journal of health policy and management, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Lean-based Digital Twin model for planning and governance in secondary and tertiary hospital networks.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Operational inefficiency and perceived quality in a paediatric day hospital: a lean-informed study of patient flow, caregiver and staff perceptions.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2026Observational
- Healthcare Quality Systems: International Frameworks, Evaluation and Improvement Strategies.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Time-Motion Analysis of Patient Flow in a Family Medicine Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Lahore.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- Bridging organizational boundaries in complex care pathways: lessons from a Lean and Safety Management approach.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Cross-cultural validation of the Chinese version of the lean management scale for nursing services in hospitals.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLean healthcare practices are widely used to enhance efficiency, quality, cost-effectiveness, and satisfaction in hospitals. However, no studies have synthesized their effectiveness across these dimensions. This review aims to address this gap by evaluating the impact of Lean implementation on four key themes: Efficiency, quality, cost, and satisfaction.
methodsFour online databases were selected for the targeted articles: Scopus, Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science. Additionally, a comprehensive search was conducted using the Google Search Engine, along with a review of the citation list from the retrieved articles, to identify related grey literature and acquire additional articles. The search covered only the period from January 2019 to October 2024. The quality and research methodology of the articles reviewed were evaluated to determine the reliability of these findings.
resultsA total of 6021 articles were screened, and 60 were included in this study. Our findings were grouped into four themes: (1) Efficiency: 49 studies identified 12 sub-dimensions of efficiency, with the most common variables being waiting time, length of stay (LOS), and patient volumes. (2) Quality: 12 studies reported quality improvements, covering 12 variables, with 30-day readmission rates, counselling sessions, and drug-related indicators being most prominent. (3) Cost: 17 studies examined Lean-driven cost reductions, with operating costs being the most frequently addressed variable, appearing in seven studies. (4) Satisfaction: Key satisfaction indicators included patient satisfaction, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores, complaint rates, and nurse satisfaction.
conclusionThis is the first review to synthesize the literature on the impacts of Lean implementation across four key themes, while also identifying existing gaps. It highlights the positive outcomes of Lean in hospitals and outlines the primary areas of improvement emphasized by healthcare institutions within each theme.
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Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.