Perception of health professionals about hospital furniture

an analysis from the perspective of "lean healthcare"

Abstract

Based on the summary you provided, here is the corresponding abstract in English. The translation maintains the structure and key information of the original. The inadequacy of hospital furniture has compromised the functionality, comfort, and safety of healthcare environments, highlighting the need for research aimed at improving the ergonomics of these structural elements. This study aimed to analyze the main challenges related to the design, management, and acquisition of hospital furniture in an inland region of the state of São Paulo, based on the principles of the lean healthcare philosophy. The research adopted a qualitative approach, grounded in the methodology of Discursive Textual Analysis (DTA) and unstructured interviews with five professionals in the sector, selected through intentional sampling based on their practical experience and technical knowledge. The interviews were transcribed, fragmented, and interpreted with the support of the “MAXQDA" software. The main results revealed the identification of recurring failures in institutional decision-making processes, such as the exclusion of end users, excessive standardization, low adaptability of furniture, and the difficulty of reconciling technical standards with humanization guidelines. The application of lean principles, based on these results, allowed for the identification of improvement opportunities in decision-making flows, aligning furniture selection with the real needs of professionals and patients. It was concluded that active listening to specialists and the use of iterative approaches favor the construction of hospital environments that are more efficient, safe, and humanized.