Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution

Paper Info
Page count 8
Word count 2238
Read time 8 min
Topic Health
Type Critical Writing
Language 🇺🇸 US

Introduction

As the chief quality and safety director at Jasmine Hospital and Medical Center in Pine City, Colorado, the ultimate goal is to provide patients with the highest level of medical care possible. A significant concern concerning the care provided by a general trauma emergency department staffed by generalists is the timely arrival of the patient at the hospital and the initiation of treatment as soon as the patient arrives. Because most of the injuries patients suffer from are related to sporting injuries and automotive accidents, the problem is being raised to provide an urgent medical care facility. Because the primary acute care hospital is located 10 miles away from the community’s residents, the emergency treatment service is out of reach, creating the most significant hurdle to access.

Main body

ED specialists have observed that the waiting period for the start of treatment in an emergency scenario may be as long as two hours, with the average waiting time being between 2 and 4 hours in reality; This is simply because the specialists are involved in the other surgical operations at the facility in question; not to mention that most of the incidents include teenagers participating in sports or being involved in a vehicle accident. Although it has been established that four children have died in the preceding 120 days due to the prolonged waiting time for the kids to get the initial treatment, it is unclear why this has occurred. (Gaikwad & Sunnapwar, 2020). In the case of such a difficult situation in terms of providing emergency aid to such patients, a comprehensive protocol must be followed in the letter.

Six Sigma and lean management have cleared up many ambiguities by outlining the key ideas and practices that support its implementation. An examination of the advantages of both Six Sigma and Lean may be found at the end of this presentation. Six Sigma and lean management have cleared up many ambiguities by outlining the key ideas and methodologies that guide its implementation. The discussion finishes with a look at the advantages of both lean and six sigmas, which both firms may benefit from them. Design Based on current research, critical analysis, and experience and knowledge, this comparison between Six Sigma and lean management is based.

Findings summarized – When the LSS and Lean systems are used together, they overcome the limitations of each program when used alone. For example, there are various conceivable reasons why the two programs cannot achieve perfection independently. Lean and Six Sigma (LSS) companies have several benefits in the real world. Poor management and Six Sigma are based on three fundamental principles, and six sigma ideas and practices are examined in a lean, six-sigma business model. (Niñerola et al., 2020). Poor management and Six Sigma may enhance an organization’s performance, and an integrated program can do much more.

After considering the above, the first problem is the lack of sufficient emergency specialists at the hospital. If the number of emergency department specialists had been enough, such a terrible scenario and the victims’ deaths might have been avoided. To put it another way, a scarcity of the required number of emergency specialists results in a longer wait time for patients to get their initial treatment due to the lack of available resources. In actuality, according to a recent widely circulated study, four people have died in the previous 120 days due to the prolonged waiting time for emergency patients to get their initial treatment the more extended waiting period; not to mention the number of parties involved in providing such services by hospitals is considerable.

It is expected that a population of about 80,000 people between the ages of 25 and 50 would benefit from the services provided by the hospital’s emergency department. For nearly ten years, the residents of this town have been known to reside in this location, and they have come to rely heavily on the emergency services provided by this hospital. The stakeholders need to receive immediate aid if involved in a car accident, and their increased demand seems to be related to the hospital’s ability to respond quickly. The third need of the stakeholders is a reduction in the amount of waiting time that they must endure.

Another need of the stakeholders is the availability of a more significant number of emergency department experts and appropriate counseling. As the Chief Quality and Safety Director at Jasmine Hospital, it is a top goal to ensure that the stakeholders have a proper facility to treat themselves with the most significant possible degree of satisfaction after their treatment (Niñerola et al., 2020). This level of satisfaction will be associated with the prompt availability of emergency department professionals and the ease with which the patient may be transferred from the accident site to the hospital in a short period.

To ensure the safety of patients, many health care organizations (HCOs) must make significant changes in the design and deployment of work and the culture of the organization’s understanding of safety science. To bring about these changes, the HCO’s management and the nurses and other health care workers who work there must have the ability to transform their own beliefs and practices as well as those of the HCO as a whole, including those who set the policies and procedures that shape the environment (O’Donovan & McAuliffe, 2020). Health services research, organizational disaster studies, and the evolution of high-reliability organizations have identified management practices that are consistently associated with the successful implementation of change initiatives and achievement of safety despite high error risk; behavioral and organizational research on the workforce’s effectiveness and health services.sss

On the other hand, the current technology used in this emergency therapy regimen is relatively broad in its scope and use. A detailed description for a particular case is as follows: the first step is to summon an ambulance for the patient hurt in an accident. Patient care begins as soon as they arrive at the hospital, depending on how many emergency department doctors are available at the time of the arrival. Emergency physicians decide on surgery and non-surgical treatment depending on the severity of the injury. However, due to ED specialists’ lengthy wait times, the patient was periodically forced to endure excruciating pain. In actuality, the lack of emergency department specialists has been related to the patient’s death.

The strategy shown in Figure 1 below is expected for trauma treatment.

A generic protocol for the trauma treatment
Figure 1. A generic protocol for the trauma treatment

Therefore, the treatment protocol that is being used recently lacks the availability of the ED specialists, thereby raising an objection towards the management department in terms of the unplanned maintenance of the professional medical human resources. A critical analysis of this entire treatment process, which is being currently used in the hospital, reveals that several wastes are associated with the whole process. One of the most crucial wastes is the waiting time, which is exceptionally significant for the patient having severe accidents. A lack of primary emergency treatment might cause the death of the patients. In the current protocol, the average waiting time for the patients to receive the service of the ED specialists spans up to 4 hours, a trivial waste of life-saving time for the patients.

Another ethical waste is the loss of the stakeholders’ faith in this hospital in terms of getting immediate treatment under the patient’s emergency condition. Not to mention, various classes of personnel were associated with the entire existing protocol, each having the own expertise in their area of the profession. For example, the general physician was there for the initial assessment of the patient after the admission to the hospital, followed by the evaluation by the emergency department specialists. Based on their recommendation, surgeons were there for the surgery if needed. On the other hand, for the quality maintenance of the entire treatment protocol, the role of the quality control officer was significant. In the given context, it is highly relevant to provide a time estimation of the accident case to receive the emergency treatment on an average basis, as shown in table 1.

Table 1. The time estimation of the accident case to receive the emergency treatment on an average basis.

Item Corresponding time
Identification of the accident As soon as possible
The arrival of the ambulance Within 10-30 minutes
Admission to the emergency department Immediately after the arrival
Initial treatment Immediately after the arrival
Critical care treatment 2 to 4 hours, depending on the availability of the emergency specialists
Surgery procedures, if needed After 4 hours, however, the duration of surgery depends on the intensity of the fatal
Visit of the doctors after transferring to the general bed 1-hour frequency

According to the current estimates, the patient will be forced to wait for an extended period, classified as possibly life-threatening. Establishing a new goal to avoid this is quite notable and eagerly awaited; it is necessary to reassess the current treatment strategy. Medical professionals capable of dealing with emergency scenarios will be boosted as part of the new treatment strategy. Consequently, by hiring extra emergency specialists, the hospital would be able to avoid a shortage of emergency specialists; o cope with the scarcity of emergency specialists, doctors should also be expected to be available at all times, even on weekends and holidays. As part of the new goal, general practitioners will need to be educated to respond to an emergency crisis in various ways, including via different professional training.

Overall, these combined efforts would help reduce a patient’s amount of time waiting for emergency treatment. Consequently, all doctors have granted their prior approval for a virtual conference in the case of an emergency, which would assist in deciding whether the patient should undergo surgery or non-surgical treatment. To achieve this new objective, all stakeholders will need to be acquainted with some of the procedures outlined in this section. According to the American Medical Association, when the emergency experts are not there, regular physicians will train to assist the patient in their absence. In addition, the hospital website should provide information on the patient’s condition if they are in an emergency.

In an emergency, the patient’s family must access the information they need to visit the website to learn about their health (O’Donovan & McAuliffe, 2020). If a surgical operation is performed, it has been established that all processes will be recorded in real-time, allowing the patient to be counselled on the proper follow-up of the treatment protocol under specific and clearly defined parameters. However, the number has been widely broadcast to assure fast ambulance service. All parties involved should be written down to call the hospital ambulance promptly in an emergency.

The newly proposed protocol for the treatment of the patients and the proposed protocol’s superiority over the previous one can easily be monitored by considering the waiting time of the visit of the emergency specialists to the patient. A reduced waiting time is expected after implementing the new method, which can be directly visualized from the reduced amount of the associated waiting time; this, in turn, will reduce waste time in the form of waiting time. However, for the sustainable service of good quality, adequate management is highly expected from the end of the quality and the safety officer.

The proper recording of the patient’s feedback after the treatment should be provided with the highest priority for future improvement, which will help make a sustainable development for this treatment protocol. For this, some new agreements must have to be included. For example, the newly joined emergency specialists should be bonded via the deal that they are bound to provide the on-call service when required for the emergency treatment. In addition to this, the time management for the arrival of the ambulance to the accident spot also has to be secured through the agreement with the ambulance personnel to avoid the chance of late arrival (Niñerola et al., 2020). To this end, to encourage all the stakeholders towards their ready service, the reward has been decided to provide for the person with the complete service; this might be offered to prove the potent candidate an international travel package or a solid amount of cash reward.

Therefore, the present proposal in the light of the existing one can be concluded based on the six sigma principle; this includes the definition of the problem associated with the patient receiving the emergency treatment as soon as possible; this was measured in terms of the waiting time, which has been controlled through the application of the newly proposed protocol. Therefore, the analytical parameter in periods of the waiting time is reduced for the new treatment protocol, which improves the existing treatment protocol.

Conclusion

Institutional initiatives to prevent medical mistakes will lead to a drop in patient safety, mortality, and morbidity rates. Patient mortality arising from healthcare-associated infections, equipment, and medication and test delivery drop when policies are devised and implemented to reduce mistakes. Processes should be standardized, and employees should follow verification procedures to prevent blood transfusion mistakes. Improved care quality and patient safety are achieved by reducing hospital-acquired infections, improving pain management, maintaining skin integrity, and enhancing fall prevention. The most successful way to increase patient safety is to use teamwork, education, and training in organized initiatives. To improve patient and staff safety, accepting the contributions of team members, removing obstacles to reporting mistakes and creating an atmosphere where everyone works together is essential.

References

Gaikwad, L., & Sunnapwar, V. (2020). An integrated lean, green and Six Sigma strategies. The TQM Journal, 32(2), 201-225. Web.

Niñerola, A., Sánchez-Rebull, M., & Hernández-Lara, A. (2020). Quality improvement in healthcare: Six Sigma systematic review. Health Policy, 124(4), 438-445. Web.

O’Donovan, R., & McAuliffe, E. (2020). Exploring psychological safety in healthcare teams to inform the development of interventions: Combining observational, survey and interview data. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). Web.

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EssaysInCollege. (2022, November 17). Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution. Retrieved from https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/

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EssaysInCollege. (2022, November 17). Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution. https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/

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"Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution." EssaysInCollege, 17 Nov. 2022, essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/.

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EssaysInCollege. (2022) 'Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution'. 17 November.

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EssaysInCollege. 2022. "Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution." November 17, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/.

1. EssaysInCollege. "Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution." November 17, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/.


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EssaysInCollege. "Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution." November 17, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/.

References

EssaysInCollege. 2022. "Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution." November 17, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/.

1. EssaysInCollege. "Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution." November 17, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/.


Bibliography


EssaysInCollege. "Six Sigma Integration in the Healthcare Institution." November 17, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/six-sigma-integration-in-the-healthcare-institution/.