Amidst the debate about improving healthcare services are conversations about the speed of obtaining needed services. A practical and proven way to reduce service delays to patients is by applying the robust principles of Lean, and using those principles to weed out waste that adds to the time it takes patients to obtain the services they need.
“As a pioneer of Lean in healthcare, our organization wasn’t quite sure of what to expect, and even had some doubt as to if the Lean methodology could be successfully implemented in a non-manufacturing environment. Early successes eliminated all doubt as we improved efficiency in several areas of our organization, resulting in decreased wait times, improved cycle times, optimized process flow, and increased customer and staff satisfaction. After five years, we are continuing to leverage Lean to achieve excellence in providing high quality patient care.”
Greg Stock, President & CEO
Thibodaux Regional Medical Center
By closely looking at individual processes, heathcare providers can identify and eliminate activities that contirute to the delay. In many cases, such as in cardiac pathways, the reduction in time can literally be a difference between life and death. A typical example may reduce the ‘door to balloon’ time, or the time from arrival at the emergency room to the time the patient is catheterized to the point of the attack, from in excess of an hour and a half to well below 60 minutes.
Even in more mundane clinical treatments, eliminating time delays in clinical processes can mean speedier delivery of services.
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