P042 Lean Six Sigma Approach to Improve Non-Invasive Ventilation Patient Care

INTRODUCTION: A lean six-sigma (LSS) approach to clinical redesign looks at aspects of patient flow, value to consumer and process inefficiencies. We used LSS quality management approach for clinical redesign of our non-invasive ventilation patient care. Current recommendations suggest that patients using non-invasive ventilation (NIV) require therapy for a minimum of 4 hours per night for optimal health benefits, with less than this amount defined as low adherence. This information is collated for each patient at each clinic visit. The aims of this study were to improve the identification of patients on non-invasive ventilation that are poorly adherent to paediatric specialist support, decrease the time taken for entry of NIV adherence data for all patients and evaluate process/es for scalability for future growth. METHODS: A LSS approach was used with identification of variation, waste and patient flow concerns in diagnostic stage. Rapid improvement events, diagnostic and solution design workshops were conducted to determine root cause, key issues and possible solutions. A preferred solution was adopted through team collaboration. RESULTS: A diagnostic stage identified two key areas: a 45% increase in telehealth and 162 man-hours of manual data entry for patient care. The solution initiated was to extract NIV machine data remotely and automate data collection. DISCUSSION: Healthcare is well suited to using the lean six-sigma approach to facilitate team collaboration in all aspects of clinical redesign of a healthcare pathway. Automating aspects of patient care may improve patient health and staff satisfaction.