Making a Mend
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Making a Mend
Lean and Six Sigma guided a hospital in redesigning its ER process to stave off delays and treat more patients
- Publication:
- Quality Progress
- Date:
- February 2023
- Issue:
- Volume 56 Issue 2
- Pages:
- pp. 12-19
- Author(s):
- Bedgood, Casey
- Organization(s):
- Navicent Health, Macon, GA
Abstract
To improve how it operated its ER—more specifically, to reduce the number of patients who left without receiving treatment (LWOT)—a Georgia hospital turned to lean and Six Sigma. A hospital improvement team examined the variables that were causing delays and disruptions in the entire process—from intake to patient treatment. The team also analyzed data around the different variables to identify problems and measure improvements along the way. In the end, the hospital shored up the process, reduced the LWOT rate and improved various key performance indicators that measured improvement.