Using The Lean Six Sigma Healthcare Method

By Essie Osborn


If one is an owner of a company or probably even a manager, then he has most likely heard of the famous lean six sigma method of managing a business. Now although this is mostly used in manufacturing companies, these concepts can actually be very good in the health care industry. There are certain ways on how to use the lean six sigma healthcare method in hospitals or clinics.

Now in the health care industry, one would be handling medical institutions like hospitals. Now the thing about hospitals is that instead of creating products, they provide medical services to patients who need it. Now while providing the services, there may be some errors that may occur in the process.

Now the thing about managing a hospital or any health institution is that one error can be tantamount to a death. So if one of the staff would create an error during for example a surgery, then this could cost the life of a human being. It is for this reason that all errors have to be eliminated so that the safety of the patient will not be compromised at all.

If one already knows of the lean six sigma method, then he is probably familiar already with the DMAIC process. Now if one is not that familiar yet, this is a method that defines, measures, analyzes, improves, and controls the errors in the process. After one has spotted the problem, he just has to use these five steps to fix them.

Now after one has already spotted the problem in the system, then he has to dissect it piece by piece before making a solution. The first step would be to define the problem and see where the main cause of it would actually be whether it would be a human error or a machine error. Now it is only after this that one will be able to know how to solve it later on.

Now after doing that, the next thing to do is to measure just how bad the problem would be. After measuring the intensity of the problem, the very next thing to do would be to dig deeper and do a full analysis on it. By looking at the root cause of the problem, one can already think up of a solution and try to implement it from there.

Getting the issue fixed is not enough as there actually is a possibility that the problem may come back. So after the implementation of a solution, one has to come up with a way to maintain control of the process so that the problem does not happen again. He has to make sure to come up with a way on how to monitor this implementation.

Now in the healthcare industry, this is indeed a very useful technique to use. So if a hospital would want to take care of their patients to the full extent, then they would have to put some effort into spotting some of defects in some processes. As long as one is able to spot the defects in medical processes, he can serve the patients much better.




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