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Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles

INTRODUCTION: “Lean” is a set of management principles which focus on increasing value and efficiency by reducing or avoiding waste (e.g., overproduction, defects, inventory, transportation, waiting, motion, over processing). It has been applied to manufacturing, education, and health care, leading...

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Autores principales: Roy, Alexandra, Colpitts, Julia, Becker, Kara, Brewer, Judson, van Lutterveld, Remko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6261412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30485277
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205232
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author Roy, Alexandra
Colpitts, Julia
Becker, Kara
Brewer, Judson
van Lutterveld, Remko
author_facet Roy, Alexandra
Colpitts, Julia
Becker, Kara
Brewer, Judson
van Lutterveld, Remko
author_sort Roy, Alexandra
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: “Lean” is a set of management principles which focus on increasing value and efficiency by reducing or avoiding waste (e.g., overproduction, defects, inventory, transportation, waiting, motion, over processing). It has been applied to manufacturing, education, and health care, leading to optimized process flow, increased efficiency and increased team empowerment. However, to date, it has not been applied to neuroimaging research. METHODS: Lean principles, such as Value stream mapping (e.g. a tool with which steps in the workflow can be identified on which to focus improvement efforts), 5S (e.g. an organizational method to boost workplace efficiency and efficacy) and Root-cause analysis (e.g. a problem-solving approach to identify key points of failure in a system) were applied to an ongoing, large neuroimaging study that included seven research visits per participant. All team members participated in a half-day exercise in which the entire project flow was visualized and areas of inefficiency were identified. Changes focused on removing obstacles, standardization, optimal arrangement of equipment and root-cause-analysis. A process for continuous improvement was also implemented. Total time of an experiment was recorded before implementation of Lean for two participants and after implementation of Lean for two participants. Satisfaction of team members was assessed anonymously on a 5-item Likert scale, ranging from much worsened to much improved. RESULTS: All team members (N = 6) considered the overall experience of conducting an experiment much improved after implementation of Lean. Five out of six team members indicated a much-improved reduction in time, with the final team member considering this somewhat improved. Average experiment time was reduced by 13% after implementation of Lean (from 142 and 147 minutes to 124 and 128 minutes). DISCUSSION: Lean principles can be successfully applied to neuroimaging research. Training in Lean principles for junior research scientists is recommended.
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spelling pubmed-62614122018-12-19 Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles Roy, Alexandra Colpitts, Julia Becker, Kara Brewer, Judson van Lutterveld, Remko PLoS One Research Article INTRODUCTION: “Lean” is a set of management principles which focus on increasing value and efficiency by reducing or avoiding waste (e.g., overproduction, defects, inventory, transportation, waiting, motion, over processing). It has been applied to manufacturing, education, and health care, leading to optimized process flow, increased efficiency and increased team empowerment. However, to date, it has not been applied to neuroimaging research. METHODS: Lean principles, such as Value stream mapping (e.g. a tool with which steps in the workflow can be identified on which to focus improvement efforts), 5S (e.g. an organizational method to boost workplace efficiency and efficacy) and Root-cause analysis (e.g. a problem-solving approach to identify key points of failure in a system) were applied to an ongoing, large neuroimaging study that included seven research visits per participant. All team members participated in a half-day exercise in which the entire project flow was visualized and areas of inefficiency were identified. Changes focused on removing obstacles, standardization, optimal arrangement of equipment and root-cause-analysis. A process for continuous improvement was also implemented. Total time of an experiment was recorded before implementation of Lean for two participants and after implementation of Lean for two participants. Satisfaction of team members was assessed anonymously on a 5-item Likert scale, ranging from much worsened to much improved. RESULTS: All team members (N = 6) considered the overall experience of conducting an experiment much improved after implementation of Lean. Five out of six team members indicated a much-improved reduction in time, with the final team member considering this somewhat improved. Average experiment time was reduced by 13% after implementation of Lean (from 142 and 147 minutes to 124 and 128 minutes). DISCUSSION: Lean principles can be successfully applied to neuroimaging research. Training in Lean principles for junior research scientists is recommended. Public Library of Science 2018-11-28 /pmc/articles/PMC6261412/ /pubmed/30485277 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205232 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication.
spellingShingle Research Article
Roy, Alexandra
Colpitts, Julia
Becker, Kara
Brewer, Judson
van Lutterveld, Remko
Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles
title Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles
title_full Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles
title_fullStr Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles
title_full_unstemmed Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles
title_short Improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of Lean principles
title_sort improving efficiency in neuroimaging research through application of lean principles
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6261412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30485277
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205232
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