Performance Improvement: Lean or Six Sigma
Performance improvement is a constant focus in healthcare today to reduce costs and meet the demands of value-based purchasing and healthcare reform. Healthcare organizations have implemented various performance improvement methodologies to reduce operating expenses while improving quality and patient outcomes (Betka, 2012). Many healthcare organizations have turned to performance improvement methods such as Lean and Six Sigma to manage their costs, productivity, customer needs, and operational growth (Betka, 2012).
The purpose of this paper is to discuss: (a) overall comparison of the Lean and Six Sigma performance improvement methods, (b) steps involved in implementing Lean and Six Sigma, (c) how each method would apply to a safety issue, (d) which method is personally preferred, (e) whether Lean or Six Sigma would provide the results desired; and (f) is Lean or Six Sigma currently employed in Cape Coral Hospital.
Performance Improvement Methods
Lean and Six Sigma appear to be the most popular and most frequently used performance improvement methods among healthcare today (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kaboli, 2010).
Lean was created from a production process initially integrated by Henry Ford; however Lean was further developed and championed by the Toyota Motor Company in the 1930s (Lean Enterprise Institute [LEI], 2009). The Lean methodology and tools have spread much further than the automotive industry and now can be found in: retail, healthcare, construction, maintenance, and governments today (LEI, 2009).
Six Sigma was originally created by the Motorola Company in 1986 to improve the manufacturing process and eliminate defects ("Six Sigma," 2011). Six Sigma also gained popularit...
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Meliones, J., Alton, M., Mericle, J., Ballard, R., Cesari, J., Frush, K., & Mistry, K. (2013). 10-year experience integrating strategic performance improvement initiatives: Can the Balanced Score Card, Six Sigma, and Team Training all thrive in a single hospital? Retrieved from http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/advances2/vol3/advances-meliones_40.pdf
There are many people that benefit from Lean Six Sigma which include mainly customers, suppliers, employees, and also stockholders. Lean Six Sigma is a way for businesses to improve, to reduce waste and to become more successful. In the future, more and more organizations will adopt or practice some of the Lean, Six Sigma, or both in order to stay competitive in today’s market. In some cases, blending both Lean and Six Sigma can be costly and difficult; however the end result can create an organization that focuses on quality, accuracy, and speed to meet the goal which is profitability.
uses some of these. The six sigma relies on data, process, and outcomes. Per HealthIT.gov there
There is a lot of literature on the concept of continuous improvement (CI). Studies show that CI is very important to creating competitive advantages in highly competitive industries such as the automobile industry (Bhuiyan & Baghel 2005; Li et al. 2009; Schaeffer, Cadavid, & Backström 2010). These studies suggest that manufacturing firms use CI to eliminate waste in all organisational systems and processes (Bhuiyan & Baghel 2005; Li et al. 2009). Currently, manufacturing firms use lean manufacturing, six sigma, lean six sigma, and the Kaizen methods of CI methodologies to reduce wastages, simplify the production line, and improve quality (Swink & Jacobs 2012).
At its most fundamental core, quality improvement of healthcare services and resources requires disciplined attention to the measurement, monitoring, and reporting of system performance (Drake, Harris, Watson, & Pohlner, 2011; Jones, 2010; Kennedy, Caselli, & Berry, 2011). Research points to performance measurement as a significant factor in enabling strategic planning processes and achievement of performance goals (Tapinos, Dyson & Meadows, 2005). Thus, without a system of measurement that accounts for the performance behaviors of healthcare professionals, managers and administrative employees, quality improvement remains a visionary abstraction (de Waal, 2004).
Sitnikov, C. (2012). Six sigma as a strategic tool for companies. Young Economists Journal / Revista Tinerilor Economisti, 94-102.
The methodology of Lean Six Sigma is the merger of two business tools that includes Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma. Six Sigma focuses on improving current business processes and performance while Lean Manufacturing focuses on the improvement of the processes of an organization by using highly skilled employees to increase speed and quality. Combining the two methodologies creates an organization that focuses on quality, efficiency and speed to lower operational costs and increase profits. By following the Lean Six Sigma methodology, many companies have attempted to create a lean, waste-free environment ultimately at the expense of the employee and occasionally at the expense of the organization.
Dinh et al. (2014) found that by employing a quality improvement system lowered trauma patient mortality by statically significant amount. These reductions in patient mortality for course benefit patients, but also lower costs by identifying waste. Caldwell (2006) states quality improvement techniques; like lean sigma six, can allow better unit staffing allocations based on patient census that protect patient safety and care quality, but also reduce staffing levels more effective and lower overall unit staffing
Vest, J.R., & Gamm, L.D., (2009) A critical review of the research literature on Six Sigma, Lean and StuderGroup's Hardwiring Excellence in the United States: the need to demonstrate and communicate the effectiveness of transformation strategies in healthcare. Implement Sci. 2009 Jul 1;4:35.
The Six Sigma approach was designed by Motorola in 1986. The primary objective of the concept was to develop a tool for tallying the process defects and, as the result, improving business operations. The foundations of the approach are the customer needs, statistical analysis of data and facts, and timely execution. The method promises numerous benefits such as increasing performance and profitability of an organization, improving product or service quality and employee morale, decreasing costs, the growth of market share, the higher level of satisfying customer needs, etc. (Meredith & Shafer, 2013). The primary advantage
Barnard, W., De Feo, J. (2004). Juran Institute’s Six Sigma Breakthrough and Beyond. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies
For organizations who have committed to invest and deploy quality systems improvement programs, it is a huge task for every member who is a part of the transformation. The benefits are felt once completed and outweigh the cost from a long-term standpoint. Col. Larsen offers a compelling argument that Lean principles, when properly applied, also result in significant improvement and transcends industry boundaries. Leadership from all levels must challenge traditional approaches, communicate, and execute as a team to design and obtain excellence in governance of safety.
A LEAN Company is our best description and our business philosophy (creating more value for customers with less resources), which pursues to deliver what the customer wants, when they want it, at maximum value with minimum misuse.Through the application of LEAN, we achieve more fulfillment as it helps to reduce the possibility to constantly be fighting a battle against difficulties. Besides, we promote a Continuous Improvement Culture in our performance.
Toyota is a pioneer of the LEAN manufacturing principle. Lean, as a process, is a way to add value to customers while minimizing waste (LEI, 2011). It can also be thought of in terms of flow, which is how Toyota likes to think of it. It is simply a process of decision making where the problems tend to be thought of in terms of flow, reducing starts and stops or unnecessary motion increases flow, reducing waste.
There are many reasons for employee training and development in the health care environments. Another reason for employee training is to keep with the development with the new change in the world today. Another reason is to benchmark the status of improvement so far in a performance i...
In 1950s, Toyota has developed lean thinking. The Toyota Production System aspires to minimize waste and increase efficiency while at the same time enhances its product quality. From this initiative, Toyota managed to widen its competitive edge by employed fewer employees in the car production with a small number of flaw products.