Introduction:

An improvement proposal is presented for reducing the service time for patients using the methodology of Lean Manufacturing in an emergency department at a clinic in Bogotá, which fails or exceeds the standard time established by the District Department of Health.

Method:

This research was carried out on an Emergency Unit, located in Bogotá - Colombia. Fieldwork was conducted during a six month period in order to establish the areas and / or processes that don´t add value to the patient, using specific tools of Lean manufacturing such as value stream mapping and The spaghetti diagram, generating action plans to contribute to its improvement.

Results:

The activities that do not generate customer value and need to be improved or eliminated in the emergency department study, Alluding to: [1] Registering for admission, [2] waiting times at the admission for assesment in triage, consultation and medical treatment and [3] order delivery. The applicability of the proposal is assessed using simulations based on Software Arena, showing improvements in patient waiting times of up to 67%.

Discussion or Conclusion:

This project demonstrates improvements in waiting times for patients in the Emergency Unit studied, which could encourage other units for using Lean in Colombia or Latin America, as it states that this research area is still emerging in these regions.

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