Cargando…

The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow

The aim of this study was to redesign an emergency department [ED] data management system to improve the availability of, and access to, data to facilitate patient flow. A pre-/post-intervention design was employed using Lean Six Sigma methodology with a focus on the voice of the customer, Gemba, an...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Daly, Ailish, Teeling, Seán Paul, Ward, Marie, McNamara, Martin, Robinson, Ciara
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8582671/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34769548
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111030
_version_ 1784597037500596224
author Daly, Ailish
Teeling, Seán Paul
Ward, Marie
McNamara, Martin
Robinson, Ciara
author_facet Daly, Ailish
Teeling, Seán Paul
Ward, Marie
McNamara, Martin
Robinson, Ciara
author_sort Daly, Ailish
collection PubMed
description The aim of this study was to redesign an emergency department [ED] data management system to improve the availability of, and access to, data to facilitate patient flow. A pre-/post-intervention design was employed using Lean Six Sigma methodology with a focus on the voice of the customer, Gemba, and 5S to identify areas for improvement in ED data management processes and to inform solutions for improved ED patient flow processes. A multidisciplinary ED team includes medical consultants and registrars, nurses, patient service staff, radiology staff, as well as information technology and hospital management staff. Lean Six Sigma [LSS] diagnostic tools identified areas for improvement in the current process for data availability and access. A set of improvements were implemented to redesign the pathway for data collection in the ED to improve data availability and access. We achieved a reduction in the time taken to access ED patient flow data from a mean of 9 min per patient pre-intervention to immediate post-intervention. This enabled faster decision-making by the ED team related to patient assessment and treatment and informed improvements in patient flow. Optimizing patient flow through a hospital’s ED is a complex task involving collaboration and participation from multiple disciplines. Through the use of LSS methodology, we improved the availability of, and fast access to, accurate, current information regarding ED patient flow. This allows ED and hospital management teams to identify and rapidly respond to actions impacting patient flow.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8582671
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85826712021-11-12 The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow Daly, Ailish Teeling, Seán Paul Ward, Marie McNamara, Martin Robinson, Ciara Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The aim of this study was to redesign an emergency department [ED] data management system to improve the availability of, and access to, data to facilitate patient flow. A pre-/post-intervention design was employed using Lean Six Sigma methodology with a focus on the voice of the customer, Gemba, and 5S to identify areas for improvement in ED data management processes and to inform solutions for improved ED patient flow processes. A multidisciplinary ED team includes medical consultants and registrars, nurses, patient service staff, radiology staff, as well as information technology and hospital management staff. Lean Six Sigma [LSS] diagnostic tools identified areas for improvement in the current process for data availability and access. A set of improvements were implemented to redesign the pathway for data collection in the ED to improve data availability and access. We achieved a reduction in the time taken to access ED patient flow data from a mean of 9 min per patient pre-intervention to immediate post-intervention. This enabled faster decision-making by the ED team related to patient assessment and treatment and informed improvements in patient flow. Optimizing patient flow through a hospital’s ED is a complex task involving collaboration and participation from multiple disciplines. Through the use of LSS methodology, we improved the availability of, and fast access to, accurate, current information regarding ED patient flow. This allows ED and hospital management teams to identify and rapidly respond to actions impacting patient flow. MDPI 2021-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8582671/ /pubmed/34769548 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111030 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Daly, Ailish
Teeling, Seán Paul
Ward, Marie
McNamara, Martin
Robinson, Ciara
The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow
title The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow
title_full The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow
title_fullStr The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow
title_full_unstemmed The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow
title_short The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow
title_sort use of lean six sigma for improving availability of and access to emergency department data to facilitate patient flow
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8582671/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34769548
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111030
work_keys_str_mv AT dalyailish theuseofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT teelingseanpaul theuseofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT wardmarie theuseofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT mcnamaramartin theuseofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT robinsonciara theuseofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT dalyailish useofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT teelingseanpaul useofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT wardmarie useofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT mcnamaramartin useofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow
AT robinsonciara useofleansixsigmaforimprovingavailabilityofandaccesstoemergencydepartmentdatatofacilitatepatientflow