Process Mining for Quality Improvement: Propositions for Practice and Research

• OBJECTIVE: Process mining offers ways to discover patient flow, check how actual processes conform to a standard, and use data to enhance or improve processes. Process mining has been used in health care for about a decade, however, with limited focus on quality improvement. Hence, the aim of the article is to present how process mining can be used to support quality improvement, thereby bridging the gap between process mining and quality improvement. METHOD: We have analyzed current literature to perform a comparison between process mining and process mapping. RESULT: To better understand how process mining can be used for quality improvement we provide 2 examples. We have noted 4 limitations that must be overcome, which have been formulated as propositions for practice. We have also formulated 3 propositions for future research. CONCLUSION: In summary, although process mapping is still valuable in quality improvement, we suggest increased focus on process mining. Process mining adds to quality improvement by providing a better understanding of processes in terms of uncovering (un)wanted variations as to obtain better system results.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Produktionsteknik, arbetsvetenskap och ergonomi (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Tillförlitlighets- och kvalitetsteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Reliability and Maintenance (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)