Lean adoption, implementation, and outcomes in public hospitals: benchmarking the US and Italy health systems

Table 7 Comparison on Lean self-reported performance

Variable	US (1)		Italy (2)		t-test difference
Variable	N	Mean [SD]	N	Mean [SD]	(1)–(2)
Self-reported performance index (range: 0–15)	127	7.1 [3.7]	35	8.6 [3.8]
PATIENT
Improved patient satisfaction scores	110	0.727 [0.447]	31	0.968 [0.180]	−0.240^**
Reduced medical errors	104	0.702 [0.460]	25	0.880 [0.332]	−0.178
Reduced one or more types of hosp-acquired infections	100	0.640 [0.482]	20	0.700 [0.470]	−0.060
Reduced hospital re-admissions within 30 days of discharge	103	0.524 [0.502]	22	0.773 [0.429]	−0.248^*
Reduced risk adjusted 30-day mortality	83	0.253 [0.437]	16	0.688 [0.479]	−0.434^***
Reduced ambulatory care sensitive admissions	68	0.279 [0.452]	17	0.529 [0.514]	−0.250
EMPLOYED AND AFFILIATED STAFF
Improved employee engagement in their work	114	0.816 [0.389]	32	0.938 [0.246]	−0.122
Reduced employee turnover	84	0.310 [0.465]	14	0.500 [0.519]	−0.190
COSTS
Reduced expenditures in two or more departments	112	0.795 [0.406]	24	0.792 [0.415]	0.003
Eliminated waste in two or more processes or depts	121	0.926 [0.263]	33	0.970 [0.174]	−0.044
Reduced average length of stay	102	0.461 [0.501]	30	0.800 [0.407]	−0.339^***
SERVICE PROVISION
Increased throughput in the emergency department	114	0.737 [0.442]	28	0.679 [0.476]	0.058
Increased throughput in the operating rooms	103	0.544 [0.501]	30	0.900 [0.305]	−0.356^***
Increased throughput in the cardiac care unit	91	0.275 [0.449]	23	0.696 [0.470]	−0.421^***
Increased throughput in med/surg nursing units	100	0.510 [0.502]	27	0.815 [0.396]	−0.305^**

The value displayed for t-tests are the differences in the means across the groups
^***, ^**, and ^* indicate significance at the .1, 1, and 5% critical level respectively

ISSN: 1472-6963