Reflexões acerca do uso da metodologia lean em serviços hospitalares / Reflections on the use of lean metodhodoly in hospital services

Introdução: A metodologia Lean é contemporânea e vem sendo utilizada em ambientes hospitalares, principalmente em serviços de urgências e emergências. Objetivo: Refletir acerca da metodologia Lean na perspectiva de suas ferramentas e estratégias, desafios, limitações e potencialidades, para a atenção hospitalar. Método: Estudo reflexivo fundamentado em base teórica e científica acerca da metodologia Lean na atenção hospitalar. Resultados: São discutidas considerações sobre a utilização da metodologia Lean com enfoque na implementação, monitoramento, potencialidades e limitações das ferramentas/estratégias utilizadas. Conclusão: Conclui-se que a implementação da metodologia Lean contribui para obtenção de melhores resultados nos principais indicadores da gestão de leitos, diminuição da superlotação nos serviços e do tempo de permanência nos leitos hospitalares, fortalece a atuação da regulação de leitos que, por sua vez, contribuem para uma melhoria da qualidade da assistência e satisfação dos usuários

Introduction: The Lean methodology is contemporary and has been used in hospital environments, especially in emergency services. Objective: To reflect on the Lean methodology from the perspective of its tools and strategies, challenges, limitations and potentialities for hospital care. Method: Reflective study based on theoretical and scientific basis about the Lean methodology in hospital care. Results: Considerations are discussed about the use of the Lean methodology focusing on the implementation, monitoring, potentialities and limitations of the tools/strategies used. Conclusion: It is concluded that the implementation of the Lean methodology contributes to obtain better results in the main indicators of bed management, reduction of overcrowding in services and length of stay in hospital beds, the regulation of beds, which in turn contribute to an improvement in the quality of care and user satisfaction

Introducción: La metodología Lean es contemporánea y ha sido utilizada en ambientes hospitalarios, principalmente en servicios de urgencias y emergencias. Objetivo: Reflexionar sobre la metodología Lean desde la perspectiva de sus herramientas y estrategias, desafíos, limitaciones y potencialidades para la atención hospitalaria. Método: Estudio reflexivo basado en bases teóricas y científicas sobre la metodología Lean en la atención hospitalaria. Resultados: Se discuten consideraciones sobre el uso de la metodología Lean, con foco en la implementación, seguimiento, potencialidades y limitaciones de las herramientas/estrategias utilizadas. Conclusión: Se concluye que la implementación de la metodología Lean contribuye a obtener mejores resultados en los principales indicadores de gestión de camas, reduciendo el hacinamiento en los servicios y el tiempo de estancia en camas hospitalarias, fortaleciendo el desempeño de la regulación de camas, que a su vez contribuyen a una mejora en la calidad de la atención y la satisfacción del usuario

Passagem de plantão, comunicação efetiva e o método sbar, na percepção dos enfermeiros de uma unidade coronariana / El cambio de turno, la comunicación efectiva y el método sbar en la percepción de los enfermeros de una unidad de cuidados coronarios / Shift handover, effective communication, and the sbar method, in the perception of nurses in a coronary care unit

RESUMO Objetivo: identificar as percepções dos enfermeiros de uma unidade coronariana sobre a relação entre a passagem de plantão, comunicação efetiva e o método SBAR. Método: estudo descritivo exploratório com abordagem qualitativa que buscou identificar as percepções dos enfermeiros sobre a relação entre a passagem de plantão, a comunicação efetiva e o método SBAR na unidade de terapia intensiva no processo realizado entre os turnos de trabalho, com indicativos para a construção de um instrumento estruturado para orientar e conduzir a troca de turnos, com a participação de 12 enfermeiros de uma unidade intensiva coronariana. Os dados foram obtidos no período de janeiro a julho de 2020 por meio oficina presencial antes da pandemia, e questionários foram submetidos à análise temática. Resultados: foram elencadas três categorias: Organização da passagem de plantão com enfermeiro e técnico de Enfermagem; Instrumentalização da passagem de plantão entre as equipes de Enfermagem; e Método SBAR na passagem de plantão, como base para a elaboração do instrumento de passagem de plantão. Evidenciou-se que a comunicação efetiva é um fator influenciador na passagem de plantão para a realização do cuidado de Enfermagem de forma continuada, evitando eventos adversos aos pacientes. Conclusão: confirma-se que, estratégias envolvendo a gestão hospitalar, como instrumentalizar e capacitar a equipe que está na linha de frente da atividade do plantão, acrescentam e enriquecem o cuidado sistematizado e humanizado.

RESUMEN Objetivo: identificar las percepciones del personal de enfermería de una unidad de cuidados coronarios sobre la relación entre el rostering, la comunicación efectiva y el método SBAR. Método: Estudio exploratorio descripti-vo con abordaje cualitativo, que buscaba identificar las percepciones de los enfermeros sobre la relación entre el paso de planta, la comunicación efectiva y el método SBAR, en la unidad de terapia intensiva en el proceso realizado entre los turnos de trabajo, con indicaciones para construir un instrumento estructurado para orientar y conducir la búsqueda de turnos con la participación de 12 enfermeros de una unidad intensiva coronaria. Los datos se obtuvieron de enero a julio de 2020, mediante un taller presencial antes de la pandemia y cuestionarios sometidos a análisis temáticos. Resultados: Se enumeraron tres categorías: Organización del paso de planta con el enfermero y el técnico de enfermería, instrumentalización del cambio de turno entre los equipos de enferme-ría y método SBAR en el cambio de turno, como base para la elaboración del instrumento de cambio de turno. Se demostró que la comunicación eficaz es un factor que influye en el paso de la planta para la realización del cuidado de la salud de forma continuada, evitando eventos adversos a los pacientes. Conclusión: Se confirma que las estrategias que implican a la dirección del hospital, como: potenciar y formar a este equipo que está en primera línea, en el liderazgo de la actividad de guardia, suma y enriquece la atención sistematizada y humanizada.

ABSTRACT Objective: to identify the perceptions of nurses in a coronary care unit about the relationship between shift change, effective communication, and the SBAR method. Method: descriptive exploratory study with a qualitative approach that sought to identify nurses' perceptions about the relationship between shift change, effective communication, and the SBAR method in the intensive care unit in the process carried out between work shifts, with indications for the construction of a structured instrument to guide and lead the shift change, with the participation of 12 nurses from a coronary intensive care unit. Data were obtained from January to July 2020 through a face-to-face workshop before the pandemic, and questionnaires were subjected to thematic analysis. Results: three categories were listed: Organization of the shift change with nurses and Nursing technicians; Instrumentalization of the shift change between the Nursing teams; and SBAR Method in the shift change, as a basis for the elaboration of the shift change instrument. It was evidenced that effective communication is an influencing factor in the shift change to carry out Nursing care in a continuous way, avoiding adverse events to patients. Conclusion: it is confirmed that strategies involving hospital management, such as equipping and training the team that is in the front line of the duty activity, add and enrich the systematized and humanized care.

Local COVID-19 Epicenter in Detroit Metropolitan Area Causing Profound and Pervasive Reorganization of Clinical, Educational, Research, and Financial Programs of a Large Academic Gastroenterology Division with a GI Fellowship and Primary Medical School Affiliation.

AIM: To report revolutionary reorganization of academic gastroenterology division from COVID-19 pandemic surge at metropolitan Detroit epicenter from 0 infected patients on March 9, 2020, to > 300 infected patients in hospital census in April 2020 and > 200 infected patients in April 2021. SETTING: GI Division, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, has 36 GI clinical faculty; performs > 23,000 endoscopies annually; fully accredited GI fellowship since 1973; employs > 400 house staff annually since 1995; tertiary academic hospital; predominantly voluntary attendings; and primary teaching hospital, Oakland-University-Medical-School. METHODS: This was a prospective study. Expert opinion. Personal experience includes Hospital GI chief > 14 years until 2020; GI fellowship program director, several hospitals > 20 years; author of > 300 publications in peer-reviewed GI journals; committee-member, Food-and-Drug-Administration-GI-Advisory Committee > 5 years; and key hospital/medical school committee memberships. Computerized PubMed literature review was performed on hospital changes and pandemic. Study was exempted/approved by Hospital IRB, April 14, 2020. RESULTS: Division reorganized patient care to add clinical capacity and minimize risks to staff of contracting COVID-19 infection. Affiliated medical school changes included: changing "live" to virtual lectures; canceling medical student GI electives; exempting medical students from treating COVID-19-infected patients; and graduating medical students on time despite partly missing clinical electives. Division was reorganized by changing "live" GI lectures to virtual lectures; four GI fellows temporarily reassigned as medical attendings supervising COVID-19-infected patients; temporarily mandated intubation of COVID-19-infected patients for esophagogastroduodenoscopy; postponing elective GI endoscopies; and reducing average number of endoscopies from 100 to 4 per weekday during pandemic peak! GI clinic visits reduced by half (postponing non-urgent visits), and physical visits replaced by virtual visits. Economic pandemic impact included temporary, hospital deficit subsequently relieved by federal grants; hospital employee terminations/furloughs; and severe temporary decline in GI practitioner's income during surge. Hospital temporarily enhanced security and gradually ameliorated facemask shortage. GI program director contacted GI fellows twice weekly to ameliorate pandemic-induced stress. Divisional parties held virtually. GI fellowship applicants interviewed virtually. Graduate medical education changes included weekly committee meetings to monitor pandemic-induced changes; program managers working from home; canceling ACGME annual fellowship survey, changing ACGME physical to virtual site visits; and changing national conventions from physical to virtual. CONCLUSION: Reports profound and pervasive GI divisional changes to maximize clinical resources devoted to COVID-19-infected patients and minimize risks of transmitting infection.

Nursing surveillance and immediate jeopardy in Veteran Health Administration community living centers unannounced survey program 2018 to 2019.

BACKGROUND: The VA Community Living Center (CLC) Unannounced Survey Program aims to assess standards of care set by the government to protect residents. PURPOSE: To describe patterns of practice failures in nursing surveillance causing or having potential to cause immediate jeopardy, as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. METHODS: Using CLC survey data consisting of 200 statements of deficiency (SODs) for 2018 to 2019, we collected a SOD sample (n = 20) of immediate jeopardy events. They were described using descriptive statistics and discourse content analysis. FINDINGS: We identified clinical events, their duration, work shift, and nursing skill mix for each SOD. Most to least common themes about failures in nursing surveillance were acquisition/transfer of information; decision-making; and early recognition of problems. DISCUSSION: Our analysis of nursing surveillance failures in CLC immediate jeopardy SODs provides insight into opportunities for registered nurses and the nursing skill mix to reduce avoidable harms.

Healthcare and education networks interaction as an indicator of social services stability following natural disasters.

Healthcare and education systems have been identified by various national and international organizations as the main pillars of communities' stability. Understanding the correlation between these main social services institutions is critical to determining the tipping point of communities following natural disasters. Despite being defined as social services stability indicators, to date, no studies have been conducted to determine the level of interdependence between schools and hospitals and their collective influence on their recoveries following extreme events. In this study, we devise an agent-based model to investigate the complex interaction between healthcare and education networks and their overall recovery, while considering other physical, social, and economic factors. We employ comprehensive models to simulate the functional processes within each facility and to optimize their recovery trajectories after earthquake occurrence. The results highlight significant interdependencies between hospitals and schools, including direct and indirect relationships, suggesting the need for collective coupling of their recovery to achieve full functionality of either of the two systems following natural disasters. Recognizing this high level of interdependence, we then establish a social services stability index, which can be used by policymakers and community leaders to quantify the impact of healthcare and education services on community resilience and social services stability.

Use of High-Reliability Principles in the Evolution of a Hospital Command Centre.

Hospitals and health systems across the world strive to achieve consistently safe care delivery and reduce patient harm. In November 2017, Humber River Hospital became one of the first hospitals in North America to implement a hospital command centre to manage patient access and flow. The command centre outputs relevant real-time data that have been integrated from multiple automated systems and uses predictive analytics to support early identification of patients at risk of harm and deterioration. The aim of this descriptive article is to present the conceptual development of Humber River Hospital's Command Centre.

US Hospital Preparedness to Manage Unidentified Individuals and Reunite Unaccompanied Minors with Family Members During Disasters: Results from a Nationwide Survey.

Unaccompanied minors and other unidentified individuals may present to hospitals during disasters and require reunification with family. Hospital preparedness for family reunification during disasters has never been assessed. We sent members of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals an anonymous online survey in July and August 2019 to assess their hospital's reunification readiness during a disaster. Scores on preparedness to manage unidentified patients were calculated based on 21 indicators, each with a score of 0 or 1. A multivariate linear regression was conducted to delineate factors associated with higher preparedness scores. In total, 88 individuals participated (response rate = 33.4%). All agreed that reunification preparedness is important, but far fewer (χ2 = 33.8, P < .001) believed their hospital was prepared to reunify unidentified individuals during a disaster (n = 58, 65.9%). Most (n = 56, 63.6%) had at least some written reunification plan. Preparedness scores ranged from 0 to 21 (mean = 8.0, standard deviation = 7.3). Predictors of preparedness included having a pediatrician on the hospital disaster planning committee, conducting a disaster exercise that simulated an unaccompanied minor scenario, and implementing the 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics Reunification Planning Tool. Findings from this study indicate that many US hospitals are not prepared to reunify unaccompanied minors or other separated family members during a disaster. The planning tool is a free resource that hospitals can use to improve their hospital reunification plans. Hospitals should prioritize development of reunification plans to ensure rapid response during a future event. Use of the planning tool can aid in development and improvement of these plans.

Exploration on the safe management of multi-hospital transportation in a large public hospital during the pandemic of 2019-nCoV.

During the pandemic of 2019-nCoV, large public hospitals are facing great challenges. Multi-hospital development will be the main mode of hospital administrative management in China in the future. West China Hospital of Sichuan University implemented multi-hospital integrated management, in which the branch district established the administrative multi-department collaboration mode. As an important part of the operation of branch district, how to effectively organize transportation of staffs and patients and to prevent and control the pandemic of 2019-nCoV simultaneously between different hospitals have been the key and difficult points, which should be solved urgently in the management of the branch district.

Surgical Re-entry Strategy Following COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tiered and Balanced Approach.

Following the Presidential declaration of a national emergency, many health care organizations adhered to recommendations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) as well as the American College of Surgeons (ACS) to postpone elective surgical cases. The transition to only emergent and essential urgent surgical cases raises the question, how and when will hospitals and surgery centers resume elective cases? As a large health care system providing multispecialty tertiary/quaternary care with across the Southeast United States, a collaborative approach to resuming elective surgery is critical. Numerous surgical societies have outlined a tiered approach to resuming elective surgery. The majority of these guidelines are suggestions which place the responsibility of making decisions about re-entry strategy on individual health care systems and practitioners, taking into account the local case burden, projected case surge, and availability of resources and personnel. This paper reviews challenges and solutions related to the resumption of elective surgeries and returning to the pre-COVID-19 surgical volume within an integrated health care system that actively manages 18 facilities, 111 operating rooms, and an annual operative volume exceeding 123,000 cases. We define the impact of COVID-19 across our surgical departments and outline the staged re-entry approach that is being taken to resume surgery within the health care system.

Estrategias hospitalarias frente a una pandemia / Hospital strategies against a pandemic

La humanidad, que a lo largo de la historia ha sufrido pandemias que han ocasionado la muerte de millones de personas, es actualmente azotada por la pandemia de COVID-19. El propósito de este artículo es brindar estrategias para un manejo oportuno y eficiente que contribuya a disminuir la morbilidad y mortalidad a nivel hospitalario. Para la elaboración de este artículo se revisó bibliografía de instituciones certificadas en el tema, encontrando que la mayor parte de publicaciones se centran en el abordaje de una pandemia como país; es muy poca la literatura que se centra en el abordaje hospitalario. Es por ello que, de acuerdo con la experiencia actual, en la que hemos observado serias debilidades en los hospitales de la red hospitalaria del sector público, se sugieren estrategias, adecuadas a nuestro medio, para que las autoridades hospitalarias puedan hacerle frente a una pandemia...(AU)

A model of workflow in the hospital during a pandemic to assist management.

We present a computational model of workflow in the hospital during a pandemic. The objective is to assist management in anticipating the load of each care unit, such as the ICU, or ordering supplies, such as personal protective equipment, but also to retrieve key parameters that measure the performance of the health system facing a new crisis. The model was fitted with good accuracy to France's data set that gives information on hospitalized patients and is provided online by the French government. The goal of this work is both practical in offering hospital management a tool to deal with the present crisis of COVID-19 and offering a conceptual illustration of the benefit of computational science during a pandemic.

Finding a New Normal: Hospital Governance Best Practices during COVID-19.

COVID-19 is a significant risk that compels hospital boards to react in an agile manner. Good governance requires active and effective oversight as hospitals continue to manage the pandemic for an indefinite period. Emerging from the first wave of COVID, in the context of continuously evolving restrictions, hospital boards must transition from interim solutions to sustainable practices. This new environment requires agile practices grounded in clear roles, sound structures and transparent processes. Boards can seize this opportunity to reflect on best practices, extract underlying principles of good governance and elevate these practices into a "new normal" governance environment.

Enfermedad por Coronavirus - 2019 (COVID-19) y Traumatología: Revisión de la literatura / Coronavirus Disease - 2019 (COVID-19) and Traumatology: Review of Literature

The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) triggered a global health emergency, and as a response, institutions and medical services have implemented different measures regarding the management of these patients in order to maintain medical care, and reduce the spread of the virus in patients and medical staff. The following review aims to present the current recommendations made by international, national and local societies regarding medical action from Traumatology and Orthopaedics. A literature review was done on Medline / Pubmed platforms, The Journal Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS), Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (JAAOS), Sociedad Chilena de Ortopedia y Traumatología (SCHOT). The literature was in Spanish and English, comparing it with reality on a local level. The current COVID-19 pandemic led to the complete reform of the trauma care units, starting with the development of subspecialty teams that rotate periodically, which are in charge of the emergency area, treating patients with all personal protection elements (PPE) and categorizing those patients who require emergency trauma surgery, from those that can be managed in a delayed manner. Regarding patients who are hospitalized, a COVID-19 PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test is taken as screening, except for emergency surgeries where all intraoperative protection measures are taken. In addition, for greater safety, all elective surgery was suspended, which reduces the flow of patients in the ward and in the inpatient unit. Outpatient care was optimized in order to protect patients in their periodic check-ups.

Strategic management in local hospital markets: service duplication or service differentiation.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to assess the influences of market structure on hospitals' strategic decision to duplicate or differentiate services and to assess the relationship of duplication and differentiation to hospital performance. This study is different from previous research because it examines how a hospital decides which services to be duplicated or differentiated in a dyadic relationship embedded in a complex competitive network. METHODS: We use Linear Structural Equations (LISREL) to simultaneously estimate the relationships among market structure, duplicated and differentiated services, and performance. All non-federal, general acute hospitals in urban counties in the United States with more than one hospital are included in the sample (n = 1726). Forty-two high-tech services are selected for the study. Data are compiled from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey of Hospitals, Area Resource File, and CMS cost report files. State data from HealthLeaders-InterStudy for 2015 are also used. RESULTS: The findings provide support that hospitals duplicate and differentiate services relative to rivals in a local market. Size asymmetry between hospitals is related to both service duplication (negatively) and service differentiation (positively). With greater size asymmetry, a hospital utilizes its valuable resources for its own advantage to thwart competition from rivals by differentiating more high-tech services and reducing service duplication. Geographic distance is positively related to service duplication, with duplication increasing as distance between hospitals increases. Market competition is associated with lower service duplication. Both service differentiation and service duplication are associated with lower market share, higher costs, and lower profits. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underscore the role of market structure as a check and balance on the provision of high-tech services. Hospital management should consider cutting back some services that are oversupplied and/or unprofitable and analyze the supply and demand in the market to avoid overdoing both service duplication and service differentiation.

Identifying integration and differentiation in a Hospital's logistical system: a social network analysis of a case study.

BACKGROUND: Integration, the coordination and alignment of tasks, has been promoted widely in order to improve the performance of hospitals. Both organization theory and social network analysis offer perspectives on integration. This exploratory study research aims to understand how a hospital's logistical system works, and in particular to what extent there is integration and differentiation. More specifically, it first describes how a hospital organizes logistical processes; second, it identifies the agents and the interactions for organizing logistical processes, and, third, it establishes the extent to which tasks are segmented into subsystems, which is referred to as differentiation, and whether these tasks are coordinated and aligned, thus achieving integration. METHODS: The study is based on case study research carried out in a hospital in the Netherlands. All logistical tasks that are executed for surgery patients were studied. Using a mixed method, data were collected from the Hospital Information System (HIS), documentation, observations and interviews. These data were used to perform a social network analysis and calculate the network metrics of the hospital network. RESULTS: This paper shows that 23 tasks are executed by 635 different agents who interact through 31,499 interaction links. The social network of the hospital demonstrates both integration and differentiation. The network appears to function differently from what is assumed in literature, as the network does not reflect the formal organizational structure of the hospital, and tasks are mainly executed across functional silos. Nurses and physicians perform integrative tasks and two agents who mainly coordinate the tasks in the network, have no hierarchical position towards other agents. The HIS does not seem to fulfill the interactional needs of agents. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study reveals the network structure of a hospital. The cross-functional collaboration, the integration found, and position of managers, coordinators, nurses and doctors suggests a possible gap between organizational perspectives on hospitals and reality. This research sets a basis for further research that should focus on the relation between network structure and performance, on how integration is achieved and in what way organization theory concepts and social network analysis could be used in conjunction with one another.

Interprofessional, multitiered daily rounding management in a high-acuity hospital.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this explanatory case study is to explain the implementation of interprofessional, multitiered lean daily management (LDM) and to quantitatively report its impact on hospital safety. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This case study explained the framework for LDM implementation and changes in quality metrics associated with the interprofessional, multitiered LDM, implemented at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center (SFHMC) at the end of 2018. Concepts from lean, Total Quality Management (TQM) and high reliability science were applied to develop the four tiers and gemba rounding components of LDM. A two-tailed t-test analysis was utilized to determine statistical significance for serious safety events (SSEs) comparing the intervention period (January 2019-December 2019) to the baseline period (calendar years 2017 and 2018). Other quality and efficiency metrics were also tracked. FINDINGS: LDM was associated with decreased SSEs in 2019 compared to 2017 and 2018 (p ≤ 0.01). There were no reportable central line-associated blood stream infection (CLABSI) or catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) for first full calendar quarter in the hospital's history. Hospital-acquired pressure injuries were at 0.2 per 1,000 patient days, meeting the annual target of <0.5 per 1,000 patient days. Outcomes for falls with injury, hand hygiene and patient experience also trended toward target. These improvements occurred while also observing a lower observed to expected length of stay (O/E LOS), which is the organizational marker for hospital's efficiency. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: LDM may contribute greatly to improve safety outcomes. This observational study was performed in an urban, high-acuity, low cost hospital which may not be representative of other hospitals. Further study is warranted to determine whether this model can be applied more broadly to other settings. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: LDM can be implemented quickly to achieve an improvement in hospital safety and other health-care quality outcomes. This required a redistribution of time for hospital staff but did not require any significant capital or other investment. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS: As hospital systems move from a volume-based to value-based health-care delivery model, dynamic interventions using LDM can play a pivotal role in helping all patients, particularly in underserved settings where lower cost care is required for sustainability, given limited available resources. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: While many hospital systems promote organizational rounding as a routine quality improvement process, this study shows that a dynamic, intense LDM model can dramatically improve safety within months. This was done in a challenging urban environment for a high-acuity population with limited resources.

Digitalización de historias clínicas: análisis de un proyecto en un contexto real en el Servicio Extremeño de Salud en España / Medical record digitalization: analysis of a real life project involving the Extremadura Health Service in Spain

Se presenta un estudio de caso en el contexto de la gestión de la información clínica sanitaria, en el que, a partir de la revisión de la literatura científica, se detectó que las tecnologías de la información se han ido introduciendo de manera desigual e irregular en la sanidad pública española. El estudio se planteó como objetivo analizar cómo se realiza un proyecto de digitalización de historias clínicas, el cual condujo a las siguientes preguntas de investigación: ¿Cómo se gestiona la información sanitaria? ¿Cómo se realiza un proyecto de digitalización de historias clínicas en un contexto real? ¿Qué formación tienen los profesionales que participan en el proceso y ¿cuál es el papel de los documentalistas? Se siguió una metodología de investigación cualitativa con perspectiva naturalista, además del análisis de la literatura científica, en la que se presentaron los resultados del estudio basados en la dotación de equipamiento, el servicio de consultoría, la gestión documental y de archivo, además del perfil profesional que se plantea para la ejecución de un proyecto de digitalización de historias clínicas. Se concluye que la gestión de la información no satisface las necesidades del personal sanitario; que no existe un procedimiento documentado para la digitalización de las historias clínicas y que no se requiere la participación de profesionales sanitarios ni de documentalistas, a pesar de que la literatura científica resalta la inestimable participación de estos profesionales(AU)

A health information management case study is presented in a which scientific literature review revealed that information technologies have been incorporated into Spanish public health in an uneven, irregular manner. To corroborate this fact we set ourselves the objective of analyzing the way in which a medical record digitalization project is conducted, which led to the following research questions: How is health information managed? How is a medical record digitalization project conducted in a real life context? What is the background of professionals involved in the process and what is the role of documentalists? Besides examination of the scientific literature, a naturalist qualitative analysis was performed in which the results of the study were presented, based on equipment provision, advisory service, document management and archiving, and the professional profile established for the conduct of a medical record digitalization project. It is concluded that information management does not meet the needs of the health personnel, that a documented procedure is not available for medical record digitalization, and that participation of health professionals and documentalists is not requested, despite the scientific literature highlighting the invaluable participation of these professionals(AU)