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Angie\u2019s Discussion Post Both Lean and Six Sigma have been used to promote and sustain continuous improvement in several industries. Six Sigma is described as \u201ca metrics-driven system used to reduce medical errors and remove defects from processes involved in delivering care\u201d and lean focuses on \u201celiminated waste\u201d\u2014both with the goal of optimizing value and increasing patient satisfaction (NEJM Catalyst, 2018). It isn\u2019t surprising that the healthcare industry is evenly divided on Lean vs. Six Sigma in their performance improvement models. Healthcare demands a high level of quality and metrics in order to be successful. The IUP Journal of Operations Management points out that both improvement processes share commonalities such as: \u00b7 Customer focus \u00b7 Management commitment \u00b7 Employee engagement \u00b7 Process improvements \u00b7 Cross-functional deployment \u00b7 Productivity\/Cost saving benefit \u00b7 Dedicated and structured approach These core commonalities make the selection of one process over another up to an organization\u2019s comfort level with each of the process nuances. The clear success documented from years of success in manufacturing has led the way to the adoption of the processes in other industries including, healthcare in recent years. Based on my understanding and research around the two options, I consider lean to be the preferred method for healthcare. One of the best examples of where lean process has been implemented in this setting is at Virginia Mason because it includes each member of the patient care team and more importantly, can be implemented by anyone (NEJM, 2018). This is a stark difference to a Six Sigma approach because it does not require expertise in statistics or resources that complicate meeting the end goal. In the healthcare setting, slowing down any process aimed toward improvement could make the improvement itself too cumbersome for an organization to support and sustain. The Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS) clearly meets the objectives of the organization and has become part of the improvement culture over time. Because six sigma relies on data, it fails to address the human element of patient care. The potential drawback of lean is that it could miss opportunities to reduce variations in processes. It is possible to improve patient satisfaction under six sigma by using data analysis to look at wait times, satisfaction scores and length of stay, to name a few (Bandyopadhyay & Coppens 2005). Key metrics can be used before and after implementation to find the root cause of a problem and define an approach to eliminate the root cause. The process is continual and has been shown to improve results in many areas of healthcare with the data to support it. Bandyopadhyay, J. K., & Coppens, K. (2005). The use of six sigma in healthcare. Intl J Prod Qual Manag, 5(1), v1-v12. NEJM (2018, April 18). What Is Lean Healthcare? Retrieved July 03, 2020, from https:\/\/catalyst.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/CAT.18.0193 Sunder, Vijaya M. \u201cSynergies of Lean Six Sigma (PDF).\u201d The IUP Journal of Operations Management (2013): Vol. XII No. 1. Print. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unformatted Preview Angie\u2019s Discussion Post Both Lean and Six Sigma have been used to promote and sustain continuous improvement in several industries. Six Sigma is described as \u201ca metrics-driven system used to reduce medical errors and remove defects from processes involved in delivering care\u201d and lean focuses on \u201celiminated waste\u201d\u2014both with the goal of optimizing … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicwritersbay.com\/answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}