Date of Award
5-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Industrial Engineering
Committee Chair/Advisor
Sudeep Hegde
Committee Member
Kevin Taaffe
Committee Member
Kenneth Catchpole
Abstract
The Sterile Processing Department (SPD) is the part of the hospital that is responsible for decontaminating, assembling, and sterilizing surgical trays for use in the Operating Rooms (ORs). Errors in the SPD can lead to delayed surgeries or patient harm. The SPD is a complex system, with multiple interconnected subdepartments and roles. Complex systems require coordination between stakeholders. This study aims to discover how an organization can adapt to scale, and how information flows support these adaptations. In this study, observations, semi-structured interviews, and on-the-job interviews were conducted with members across the SPD and OR to elicit pressures, adaptations, and their corresponding information flows to understand the how coordination supports adaptive capacity in the SPD. A qualitative data analysis was conducted to find themes related to adaptations and coordination. Themes involving pressures include missing instruments and lack of proper staffing. Frequent adaptations include role evolution, prioritization, and anticipation. Coordination themes include unreliable artifacts and mistrust between the OR and the SPD. Maps of the adaptive workflows were created to visualize how pressures affect the textbook workflow, the responsive adaptations to overcome the pressures, and the information flow paths that support these adaptations. These findings can be used to provide insights to improve coordination and adaptive capacity of the SPD.
Recommended Citation
Hionis, Jacob, "Mapping Information Flows That Support Adaptive Capacity in the Sterile Processing Department (SPD)" (2023). All Theses. 4003.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/4003