Process optimization of a pre-medication process in inpatient hospital care with 2D- and 3D-modeling software - an as-is process to-be process comparison

The hospital is a place of high complexity, high risk and intensive use of resources. In addition, processes are highly individual, non-standardized and vary from hospital to hospital. Thus, process modification is challenging and difficult to implement. Pre-medication is one of these complex and individual hospital processes. 2D tools such as the event-driven process chain, which can be represented with ARIS, and Ema WorkDesigner support digital production planning and prospective ergonomics as well as productivity assessment by providing an efficient and accurate approach to 3D human simulation of manual and semi-automatic activities. For this purpose, the pre-medication process in a hospital presented vulnerabilities identified. The weak points: an incomplete patient record as well as a crowded waiting area can potentially be minimized by process optimization. The simple representation in the 2D tool and the more complex modification using emaWD allow an analysis of these processes and identification of solution approaches, such as the creation of a waiting room and a modified process flow for the patient file. 2D and 3D tools should not be understood as competing, but as complementary.