Was unterscheidet ein Krankenhaus von einer Fabrik?

A Morton, lecturer1, J Cornwell, director, point of care programme2
1 Operational Research Group, Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, 2 King’s Fund, London W1G 0AN
Correspondence to: A Morton a.morton@lse.ac.uk

Efficient processes are essential to good and cost effective care. But health services need to look beyond manufacturing for models, argue A Morton and J Cornwell
Various commentators have argued for interventions to improve processes in the delivery of health care by drawing attention to experience and practice in other industries—for example, airlines or vehicle manufacturing. A common and natural objection to this line of argument is that health care is different, and so the potential to learn from other sectors is limited. We have sympathy with both claim and counterclaim and explore in this article some features of health care that distinguish it from other industries.

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Cite this as: BMJ 2009; 339:b2727