Lean thinking in health and nursing: an integrative literature review

OBJECTIVES: to demonstrate the scientific knowledge developed on lean thinking in health, highlighting the impact and contributions in health care and nursing. METHOD: an integrative literature review in the PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Emerald, LILACS and SciELO electronic library databases, from 2006 to 2014, with syntax keywords for each data base, in which 47 articles were selected for analysis. RESULTS: the categories were developed from the quality triad proposed by Donabedian: structure, process and outcome. Lean thinking is on the rise in health surveys, particularly internationally, especially in the USA and UK, improving the structure, process and outcome of care and management actions. However, it is an emerging theme in nursing. CONCLUSION: this study showed that the use of lean thinking in the context of health has a transforming effect on care and organizational aspects, promoting advantages in terms of quality, safety and efficiency of health care and nursing focused on the patient.