Reduction of Average Lead Time in Outpatient Service of Obstetrics Through Six Sigma Methodology
In hospital services, operations efficiency and healthcare quality are two critical factors since both define the financial sustainability of the hospitals as well as patient health, safety and satisfaction. For this reason, it is necessary to explore dif
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Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad de la Costa CUC, Barranquilla, Colombia [email protected] 2 Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad de la Salle, Bogotá, Colombia [email protected]
Abstract. In hospital services, operations efficiency and healthcare quality are two critical factors since both define the financial sustainability of the hospitals as well as patient health, safety and satisfaction. For this reason, it is necessary to explore different strategies for the improvement of quality and efficiency indicators in the provision of healthcare services. Specifically, this paper focuses on the application of Six Sigma methodology as an important option to solve this problematic. This methodology begins with the identification of improving opportunities that are aligned with the organization goals. Then, a portfolio of potential improvement projects is created. Later, these projects are prioritized with basis on multicriteria decision making techniques, with the purpose of choosing the project with the highest impact on the organization quality and efficiency. Finally, the selected project is developed through DMAIC cycle. An application case related to the process of obstetric outpatient in a maternal-child hospital located in the city of Barranquilla (Colombia) is presented to prove the validity of the proposed approach. The results show that the average lead time in the obstetric outpatient service in which pregnant women are monitored, was reduced from about 7 days/appointment to approximately 4 days/appointment. Keywords: Average lead time quality
Six sigma Obstetric outpatient Healthcare
1 Introduction Currently, healthcare organizations face two main challenges. The first challenge is referred to the reduction of the high costs related to the inclusion of advanced technology and new medical treatments for diagnosis and intervention processes. Second, the growing demand of services with high quality standards and patient safety that implies having an adequate staff, medical equipment and processes [1, 2]. To provide a safe, quality and low-cost healthcare service, hospitals and clinics must have efficient processes, trained and committed staff, advanced technology and a strategic platform that integrates these aspects effectively. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 J. Bravo et al. (Eds.): AmIHEALTH 2015, LNCS 9456, pp. 293–302, 2015. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-26508-7_29
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M. Ortiz Barrios and H. Felizzola Jiménez
In last decade, Six Sigma has become in a successful strategy for those organizations that want to achieve operational excellence, get high standards of quality and reduce non-quality costs in order to be more efficient and become in world-class companies. The healthcare sector is not the exception, and despite Six Sigma was initially focused on production contexts, many healthcare organizations have implemented it as a strategy to reduce operation costs and process inefficiencies, increase service levels, make administrative processes more ef
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