Health Care – OM in the News

The Skinny on Diet Apps

Personalized nutrition might just be a few clicks away.

We all want to eat better. Unfortunately, our good resolutions are often short-lived, and without guidance and reinforcement, we go back to our old habits. The problem is especially serious for diabetics trying to keep normal blood sugar levels throughout the day. DayTwo and other apps are essentially personal nutritionists that help create diets tailored to individuals’ microbiome and health characteristics. It is not about “good” and “bad” foods. Rather, it is […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2022-04-05T23:29:30+00:00April 6, 2022|Tags: customization, product design, quality characteristics|

Generic Pills Can Be Hard to Swallow

The drug production system is broken. Fixing it requires putting quality first.

Generic drugs are supposed to be affordable alternatives to name-brand medications. Contrary to what the F.D.A. claims, a pill is not always a pill. In the quest for ever-cheaper generic drugs, quality has sometimes – not always! – been sacrificed both in the US and abroad, and without a transparent rating system, health consumers are kept in the dark. Furthermore, the reliance on a few foreign suppliers of active […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2021-09-29T18:49:34+00:00October 5, 2021|Tags: process capability, product quality, quality control, shortage, six sigma, sourcing|

Operation Warp Speed

Not since World War II and the Manhattan Project, has a project been so important to the world as Operations Warp Speed. Its goal was to take a process that normally takes years to complete, and bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the world.

As a result of its importance, a public-private effort using many resources sped the development of the vaccine. Under less urgent circumstances, vaccine development may take up to 10 years, billions of dollars, and have a high failure […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2021-03-16T04:03:21+00:00March 15, 2021|Tags: coronavirus, covid-19, crashing, logistics, project management, projects, vaccine|

The Impact of COVID-19 on Hospital Resources

Healthcare professionals are often described as the heroes of the COVID-19 crisis.

For more than a year, they have shown a remarkable resilience. Under extreme duress, they have expanded their skill repertoire and stretched their own physical and emotional limits to provide complex and compassionate care. The article underscores the difficulty of formulating capacity plans to respond quickly and effectively to successive surges in demand while normal revenue streams are constrained.

Video Spotlight: Burnout in the ICU

This […]

By CMKaruppan|2021-03-07T21:39:05+00:00March 11, 2021|Tags: flexibility, short term capacity, strategic capacity management, work force scheduling|