Lean healthcare project leader: a framework based on functions and competencies

Hospitals have been implementing lean projects in recent years and gaining significant results in diverse operational flows. Such developments are often not integrated with the hospital management system, nor performed according to the dynamics of each professional area, or even not governed by trained and empowered lean healthcare project leaders. This study proposes, by means of an action research approach, to raise the functions and competencies that a Lean Healthcare project manager needs to develop projects using DMAIC as general guide. From the case of a large hospital in southeastern Brazil, the researchers listed general project management functions, technical and behavioral competencies, and present a general method for conducting lean projects in a hospital environment. As a conclusion of the study is perceived that the required competencies are related to the literature studied in project management and lean thinking, namely, Communication, Teamwork, Focus on Results, and a Systemic Vision. These were evaluated as the basic competencies for a Lean Healthcare Project Leader.This work was partially supported by projects COMPETE-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT-UID-CEC-00319-2013, from Portugal

Micromechanical analysis of hybrid composites reinforced with unidirectional natural fibres, silica microparticles and maleic anhydride

The work describes the analytical and experimental characterisation of a class of polymeric composites made from epoxy matrix reinforced with unidirectional natural sisal and banana fibres with silica microparticles and maleic anhydride fabricated by manual moulding. The analytical models, ROM rule of mixtures and Halpin-Tsai approach, have been used in conjunction with a Design of Experiments (DOE) analysis from tensile tests carried out on 24 different composites architectures. The following experimental factors were analyzed in this work: type of fibres (sisal and banana fibres), volume fraction of fibres (30% and 50%) and modified matrix phase by adding silica microparticles (0%wt, 20%wt and 33%wt) and maleic anhydride (0%wt and 2%wt). The ROM approach has shown a general good agreement with the experimental data for composites manufactured with 30%vol of natural fibres, which can be attributed to the strong adhesion found between the phases. On the opposite, the semi empirical model proposed by Halpin and Tsai has shown greater fidelity with composites manufactured from 50%vol of natural fibres, which exhibit a weak interfacial bonding. The addition of microsilica and maleic anhydride in the system did not enhance the adhesion between the phases as expected