Lean Six Sigma For The Medical Practice

This book is for those in healthcare practices whose customers/payers may be encouraging or requiring them to use Lean Six Sigma in the workplace, or to simply improve the way healthcare is being provided. The book is intended to be a basic, easy-to-read, quick and handy reference to the process improvement topics that are so important in healthcare. The first seven sections of the book cover the basics of Lean Six Sigma ("What is Lean Six Sigma?" through a "Lean Six Sigma Road Map for the Practice") and how it can be applied and implemented in the Practice. The remainder of the pocket guide gives a brief description of the various tools and methodologies used in Lean Six Sigma. Each discussion has purposefully been kept short and simple to allow for basic understanding. Also included are tips of how or when to use the tool.

Written to address the growing demand for Lean Six Sigma expertise, this text provides a step-by-step Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process, that describes how to use the tools appropriate for each phase and provide data where tools can be practiced by students. Applying Lean Six Sigma in Health Care trains students on performance improvement techniques and current terminology so that they will be prepared to conduct Lean Six Sigma projects in large health care systems and support the physicians and nurses running these projects. With a focus on application, students learn and utilize the DMAIC process, by applying it to an improvement project that is carried through the text.

"This book presents emerging research-based trends in the area of global quality lean six sigma networks and analysis through an interdisciplinary approach focusing on research, cases, and emerging technologies"--Provided by publisher.

This book’s unique focus on the role of healthcare leaders and the lessons learned were uncovered during the authors’ research of over 200 U.S. hospitals’ performance. It was written specifically for CEOs, the “C-Suite,” and senior leaders who desire to harness the power of Lean-Six Sigma as their major strategic weapon for progress, as well as those charged to coach them. It is intended for those organizations that operate active Lean-Six Sigma initiatives, but have yet to successfully attack high leverage processes like “In Quality Staffing” and recovering significant Cost of Quality from throughput improvements. It is also intended for senior leaders who have yet to tackle Lean-Six Sigma as their major organization-wide strategic weapon. However, it is also a must-read for managers at all levels, quality professionals, and Lean-Six Sigma Black Belts who desire to aid in assuring that their organizations’ improvement efforts attack strategically versus the all-to-common tactical, project-by-project approach that suboptimizes the power of Lean-Six Sigma. Further, the book and supporting website is full of electronic checklists, tools, templates, suggestions for additional reading, and many recommended 1-hour and 2-hour learning sessions for senior leaders and managers. The changes in this second edition include the following: Many more examples of “In Quality Staffing”, a healthcare translation of one of the seven categories of Lean waste found in the Toyota Production System and one of the most powerful concepts applicable to healthcare. This concept has been described as “the language of nursing” versus a more manufacturing-speak described in other leading Lean-Six Sigma books. Expanded dialogue of the role of Lean in healthcare. Additional embedded case examples.

This book is for those in healthcare practices whose customers/payers may be encouraging or requiring them to use Lean Six Sigma in the workplace, or to simply improve the way healthcare is being provided. The book is intended to be a basic, easy-to-read, quick and handy reference to the process improvement topics that are so important in healthcare. The first seven sections of the book cover the basics of Lean Six Sigma (“What is Lean Six Sigma?” through a “Lean Six Sigma Road Map for the Practice”) and how it can be applied and implemented in the Practice. The remainder of the pocket guide gives a brief description of the various tools and methodologies used in Lean Six Sigma. Each discussion has purposefully been kept short and simple to allow for basic understanding. Also included are tips of how or when to use the tool.

Essentials for the Improvement of Healthcare Using Lean & Six Sigma is all about real and immediate quality improvement. Written by D.H. Stamatis, a renowned expert in organizational development and quality, the book addresses concerns that can be ameliorated with minimal government intervention. Detailing immediate paths for improvement fundamental to primary care, hospitals, and managed care, the book: Introduces much-needed mechanics of change, including transitioning from hierarchical groups to interactive inclusionary teams Focuses on customer satisfaction as a key indicator of quality Explains how Lean and Six Sigma tools can be readily applied to healthcare Spotlights primary care, including how to define and redesign its process and develop better metrics Presents IT applications that will improve billing, documentation, and patient care Examines Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria as it applies to healthcare Illustrates quality improvements and best practices through real world case studies Includes a companion CD with Six Sigma forms and formulas, Lean improvement tools, and other quality tools and worksheets Whether you think advances in technology and medicine, coupled with freedom of choice, makes the U.S. healthcare system the best in the world, or whether you believe growing costs, regulatory morass, and a tort-obsessed culture drop it to the bottom; it is evident that the processes currently employed and the subsequent defensive medicine philosophy that has resulted will not be able to meet the future demands of our aging society. Through Six Sigma and Lean, this text moves the focus from reactive controls to the proactive efficiency required to implement real and sustainable quality improvements that will allow us to forge a system that is all about wellness.

This practical, how-to book clearly and succinctly takes the reader through six proven "success steps" for implementing lean in any healthcare environment: 1. Create physician flow 2. Support physician value-added time 3. Visually communicate patient status 4. Standardize everyone's work 5. Lay out the clinic for minimal motion 6. Change the care delivery model Why go through such a transformation? Because it works. Tell a doctor that he can see the same number of patients, offering the same high quality and personal care, and have an extra 90 minutes at the end of his clinic day -- and that means something. Tell the staff that they can look forward to actually ending on time, with satisfied patients, no backlog, and having focused their attention completely on quality patient care -- and they will listen. These Lean principles and success steps work in clinics ranging from orthopedics to neurology to cardiac care -- the specialty doesn't matter. They work in small practices and large hospital settings. Lean methodology provides the tools to address the frustrations patients and doctors alike experience in the clinic process. Included throughout the book is a case study showing the lean transformation undertaken at the Orthopedic Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, with numerous quotes and insights from those actually involved. This transformation resulted in patient wait times being reduced by more than 70 percent, the clinic being able to see 25 percent more patients in less space, patient satisfaction scores sometimes reaching 100 percent, and staff satisfaction scores improving by more than 25 percent.