By Diana Allen Newhouse
Lean Six Sigma is not new to the healthcare arena with regards to process improvement, but perhaps your organization has been hesitant to enlist its principals into your practice. This article discusses why you should consider the methodologies for process improvement to bring about a higher level of performance. According to Greg Stock, CEO of Thibodaux Regional Medical Center in Louisiana, "The idea of being able to truly transform the culture within a hospital or medical facility may sound like a daunting, if not impossible, task. But achieving a genuine cultural transformation in healthcare could be the key to solving some of the most basic and difficult problems facing the industry today" (Six Sigma Forum, May 2002). Thibodaux Regional adopted Six Sigma after training with GE Medical Systems. "Too often, our evaluation of a process has been based on intuition, assumptions, hearsay and inaccurate, incomplete or unreliable information. As a result, inefficiencies remain, patient complaints persist, the organization's image suffers and market share is lost," states Mr. Stock.
Lean Six Sigma provides a method to dive deep into a process to understand the waste or wait times that often clog functions and can produce defects. One of most often used tools is the Value Stream Mapping of the process, referred to as the "current state." Each step of the process is documented, including down time. Value Stream Mapping is most commonly posted on the wall to give a global visualization of each function within the process.
Once the process is mapped out, a brainstorming session on the "future state" to eliminate defects, waste, and wait times are easier to identify for improvement.