Page 124 - Lean six sigma demystified

Chapter 3 a FaSter HoSpitaL in Five D ay S 103

speeding up the patient. Reducing delays between steps in patient treatment
will actually give the clinician more time with the patient, not less.
When the patient is handled in one, seamless interaction, there is less time
spent learning what happened in the previous step (e.g., reading the chart) and
more time spent with the patient. Result: improved patient satisfaction.
Handling a patient seamlessly also prevents the opportunity to miss a step
or do a step twice. Simply reducing delays will cut errors by 50%. Result: Fewer
medical errors.

Take the Dominos Challenge

Dominos made the guarantee that they could cook a pizza and deliver it to
your home in 30 minutes or it was free. It began a revolutionary shift in cus-
tomer expectations.
Google taught everyone that they could find anything they want immedi-
ately and often for free.
Customers used to want better, faster, and cheaper products and services;
now they want everything free, perfect, and now, including health care.
That shift in customer expectations is hitting hospitals. Robert Wood
Johnson Hospital offers a guarantee of 30 minutes from door to doctor in
their ED. You might consider setting the same kinds of objectives.

• 30 minutes from door to doctor in the ED
• 30 minutes from bed requested to patient in bed
• 30 minutes from lab/radiology order to execution
• 30 minutes from discharge order to patient discharged

• 30 minutes from dirty room to clean room, dirty OR to clean OR

HINt A faster patient means better health care. Take the Dominos challenge.
? still struggling

in 1999, robert Wood Johnson Hospital instituted a 15-30 program: see a nurse
in 15 minutes and a doctor in 30 minutes or your eD visit is free. they did it with-
out losing money, you can too.