The ever-increasing demand in this sector has had negative impact, leading to overcrowding of hospitals and customer complaints.
Main Objectives
The Six Sigma methodology aligned with the healthcare sector is a very good option to bring about process improvements with quick results. Improvements are required in common areas such as cost management, service provision and quality of clinical services in healthcare organizations.
The major objectives of quality healthcare relate to safety of patients, quality services for patient happiness and reduced turnover of staff by providing good working conditions. Sufficient operating margins are also a main goal.
For example, in critical areas, such as the operating room and the entire process of surgery, there may be issues such as pre-op delays, unavailability of surgeons, anesthetists and even some equipment. In these cases, a Six Sigma project that applies the lean concept to pre-op process can bring about major improvements.
The safer and more efficient the emergency department is, the more patient satisfaction will increase.
Using Kaizen events to monitor equipment or replenish supplies and staffing schedules for medical staff are some of the tools of Six Sigma that can be very useful. In some cases, problems regarding the availability of rooms and support staff at hospitals arise.
In this scenario, scheduling processes done using the Six Sigma methodology can prove effective. It helps by reducing defects and medical and prescription errors.
Training, Commitment and Leadership
In the healthcare environment, the management of processes and information is challenging. There is a lack of usage of data in a meaningful way. With lives on the line, hospital administrators tend to concentrate on finding urgent solutions - and the real issues or causes of problems may be forgotten or ignored.
Six Sigma defines formal goals for healthcare organizations and the timeline to bring them into force. Well-defined goals are connected to organizations' performance measures.
For a successful implementation of Six Sigma projects in health care organizations, commitment of management and Six Sigma training, coupled with a long-term vision, are necessary. The commitment of top-level management has to be communicated to the lowest levels of the organization and Six Sigma training imparted to the members. The cost of Six Sigma training is justified when the results of the first projects show breakthrough results.
In this way, process effectiveness improves, and the reduction in defects and waste brings about savings for the organization as well. Frequent communication of performance helps ensure that everyone connects to the overall goals, be it nursing, housekeeping, billing, administration or any other area.
Six Sigma initiatives help increase patient care and satisfaction, physicians' satisfaction and bring about cost savings that leads to stronger growth of the organization. Each healthcare organization has its own set of distinct requirements, so there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for the healthcare sector.
Healthcare organizations can learn from the best practices of the other organizations and use the appropriate Six Sigma approach that fits their specific culture and concerns. They can then live up to their commitment to provide the best services to the community.
Additionally slow implementation, Six Sigma training and over-training, and marginalizing non-belt performance improvement activities after months of Six Sigma deployments are causes of concern. As an option, using Workout combined with Six Sigma focuses on providing the know how to those groups of employees who are least exposed to the Six Sigma tools and concept, but are the base of that process.
Under Jack Welsh at GE, Workout as a business improvement methodology was born. The difference between TQM and Workout was the speed to action wherein TQM stressed on study before acting, while workout endorsed action on reaching a consensus on a simple solution.
The tools of workout are easy to understand, simple and ready to use tools for those with the understanding about the problem in contrast to the tools requiring analytical experience. The participants can express their opinion openly but have to give personal commitment of acting upon it.
Combining Six Sigma and Workout
Six Sigma has the ability to absorb new ideas and methods. The combination of Six Sigma and workout is gaining popularity as organizations look at handling the change management challenges of Six Sigma deployment. The Six Sigma approach is fact-based while making decisions about the processes, and considers the logic and data analysis to overcome the hurdles to change.
Workout is a psychological approach to change, which considers the human nature of need to be heard, valued by those in power and to be rewarded for making things better. For the managers and employees who are not a part of the core Six Sigma group, the incentive to change is the opportunity to put their ideas into practice for improving results.
Workout provides them with this opportunity by giving all employees a controlled format for translating ideas into action. This helps achieve results and reduce the cycle time of achieving the involvement of all in the Six Sigma culture.
Successful Integration
Integration of Six Sigma and workout is not difficult, but requires assigning of roles and responsibilities effectively. The keys to making it effective are listed here:
Workout as an Integral Part of Six Sigma
The combination of achieving perfection in process performance and the ideas of speed and self-confidence seems odd to come into being. It is necessary to decide the places where speed and simplicity and initiative can be fruitful and where they may be risky.
Workout Tools for Complex Problem Resolution
Workout tools such as idea prioritization, brainstorming and action plan development are useful in making improvements in processes with more than 5% defect rate. By deploying the workout teams on these areas, the Black belts can concentrate on the resolution of systemic problems.
Deployment with Acceleration
Deployment with the help of a workout team is useful, particularly when people will have to change their daily routine. Workout teams will help engage those people who will have to live with the solution.
Engaging Leaders
Workout events also help align the leadership with the priorities of Six Sigma deployment. This high level workout can sort out the problems of assigning resources on priority. It helps avoid discrepancy in matching problems to the tools.
Companies who are reluctant to implement Six Sigma can opt for workout to ramp up their process deployments and ensure employee engagement.
Tony Jacowski has sinced written about articles on various topics from University, Six Sigma and Information Technology. Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online and certification classes for six sigma pro. Tony Jacowski's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.