In a series of articles, we will present the newest in research administration from the Journal of Research Administration. To read the full JRA, please see here.
Authors:
Marcus R. Johnson, MPH, MBA, MHA, Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center-Durham, Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System – Medical Center; A. Jasmine Bullard, MHA, Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center-Durham, Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System – Medical Center; R. Lawrence Whitley, Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center-Durham, Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System – Medical Center
Grant Support
The research reported/outlined here was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Cooperative Studies Program (CSP).
Abbreviations
CSPEC-Durham - Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center – Durham VA-CASE VA Center for Applied Systems Engineering
CSP - Cooperative Studies Program
ORD - Office of Research and Development
VA - Department of Veterans Affairs
VAMCs - VA Medical Centers
Background
Lean methodology is a continuous process improvement approach that is used to identify and eliminate unnecessary steps (or waste) in a process. It increases the likelihood that the highest level of value possible is provided to the end-user, or customer, in the form of the product delivered through that process. It was developed by Toyota® as part of an effort to streamline their automotive manufacturing and production processes (Teich & Faddoul, 2013). The utilization of Lean methodology has now been used widely in healthcare and manufacturing settings (Nazarali et al., 2017; Jimmerson, Weber, & Sobek, 2005; Sari, Rotter, Goodridge, Harrison, & Kinsman, 2017; Wells, Coates, Williams, & Blackmore, 2017; King, Ben-Tovim, & Bassham, 2006), as well as in laboratory science and research data collection and reporting activities (Sewing, Winchester, Carnell, Hampton,& Keighley, 2008; Lui, 2006; Ullman& Boutellier, 2008), butthere is a limited amount of publicly available information on its use in research administration settings (Halkoaho, Itkonen, Vanninen, & Reijula, 2014; Schweikhart & Dembe, 2009). Given the complex nature of research administration and its numerous operational challenges (e.g., reductions in current and projected research funding opportunities, hiring skilled and professional staff, continuous regulatory and policy modifications, research participant payment models, etc.), it is paramount to identify approaches that promote efficiency and decrease unnecessary process components in this environment.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the United States’ largest integrated healthcare system and provides comprehensive care to more than 8.9 million Veterans each year (2017b). The Cooperative Studies Program (CSP), a division of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Research and Development’s (ORD), was established as a clinical research infrastructure to provide coordination and enable cooperation on multi-site clinical trials and epidemiological studies that fall within the purview of VA (2014). The Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center – Durham (CSPEC-Durham) is one of five epidemiology centers established by the CSP that serve as national resources for epidemiologic research and training for the VA (2017a). CSPEC-Durham is comprised of three operational core groups: Executive Leadership/Administration, Computational Sciences, and Project Management. The center has approximately 25 staff and its workforce is comprised of research investigators, project managers, statisticians, computer programmers, research assistants, data managers, medical residents/ fellows, and student trainees.
The purpose of this project was to determine the effectiveness of utilizing the Lean methodology to identify and eliminate non-value added steps in our center’s hiring process and increase its value to center staff. The secondary aim was to evaluate staff satisfaction with the revised interview process at the end of each hiring cycle, as defined from the time that a position is created or becomes vacant, until the time that a potential candidate is selected for nomination to Human Resources for the position. Prior to this quality improvement project, an interview cycle, as defined from the selection of potential candidates to the selection for nomination to Human Resources, lasted roughly 30 days. Results from this project can inform efforts to utilize the Lean methodology to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of operational processes in a clinical research center setting.
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