OPTIMIZING THE POST-OPERATIVE CARE PATHWAY IN ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY FOLLOWING A LEAN MANAGEMENT APPROACH

This thesis applies Lean Healthcare principles to analyze and optimize the post-operative care pathway in an Orthopedic Surgery Unit. Using tools such as Swimlane and Ishikawa diagrams, the study identifies systemic criticalities mainly related to paper-based documentation and frequent interruptions during nursing activities. The analysis highlights how these inefficiencies lead to information latency and task fragmentation, negatively affecting the ward's operational throughput. Finally, the research proposes improvement measures aimed at stabilizing the process flow and enhancing patient value.