Indian Institute of Management, Trichy

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Table of contents

Introduction        

Gantt chart        

Patient Admission Process Flow Diagram(Day 1)        

Patient Operation Process Flow Diagram(Day 2)        

Process Cycle Time for Admission Process        

Current Hospital utilization        

Hospital utilization if services are started on Saturday        

Evaluation of alternatives        

Market Penetration        

Recommendations        

Fig: Decision Support Model        

Appendix        

Introduction

Shouldice hospital was established at Toronto in July 1945 by Dr. Shouldice. He developed a unique method for treating external hernias and the hospital was well known for its services not just in Ontario but also other provinces in Canada and the U.S because of its very low recurrence rate of 0.8% as compared to the gross rate of recurrence for groin hernia approaches 10% in the United States. The hospital had total capacity of 89 beds and performed around 6850 total operations in calendar year 1982.

The differentiating factors that provided Shouldice hospital competitive advantage are

1.  The  method developed by Dr. Shouldice was highly successful and the procedure was standardized which provided patients a faster recovery compared to other hospitals i.e. Patients could resume their job involving light exercise within week and while for similar operations at other hospitals  recovery time for patients involving light exercise was 2 weeks.
2. Patients were offered friendly experience during stay wherein they were able to interact with patients who had already undergone the operation and patients who are yet to undergo external hernia operation over and above counselling sessions conducted by nursing staff.  Such interactions increased their confidence and motivated them to start important exercises post operation.
3. Positive word of mouth and wonderful experience during stay contributed significantly in marketing the services offered by Shouldice Hospital.
4. Experienced staff and employee friendly policies resulted in satisfied employees and efficient hospital operations.

Gantt chart

The Gantt chart below depicts the process patient undergoes from his arrival to his discharge from the hospital. It includes important processes that Shouldice hospital follows which differentiates it from remaining hospital, moreover most of the processes takes around 10-20 minutes whereas operation takes 45 minutes.

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Patient Admission Process Flow Diagram(Day 1)

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Patient Operation Process Flow Diagram(Day 2)

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Process Cycle Time for Admission Process