IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i21p11030-d660758.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Ailish Daly

    (Beacon Hospital, Sandyford, D18 AK68 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Seán Paul Teeling

    (UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education & Innovation in Health Systems, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
    Centre for Person-Centred Practice Research Division of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Queen Margaret University Drive, Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh EH21 6UU, UK)

  • Marie Ward

    (Centre for Innovative Human Systems, School of Psychology, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, D02 PN40 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Martin McNamara

    (UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, Education & Innovation in Health Systems, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Ciara Robinson

    (Beacon Hospital, Sandyford, D18 AK68 Dublin, Ireland)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ailish Daly & Seán Paul Teeling & Marie Ward & Martin McNamara & Ciara Robinson, 2021. "The Use of Lean Six Sigma for Improving Availability of and Access to Emergency Department Data to Facilitate Patient Flow," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11030-:d:660758
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11030/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11030/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ogbeiwi, Osahon, 2021. "General concepts of goals and goal-setting in healthcare: A narrative review," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 324-341, March.
    2. Deming, W. Edwards, 2018. "The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, third edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 3, volume 1, number 0262039001, April.
    3. Carmen, Raïsa & Van Nieuwenhuyse, Inneke & Van Houdt, Benny, 2018. "Inpatient boarding in emergency departments: Impact on patient delays and system capacity," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(3), pages 953-967.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ailish Daly & Sean Paul Teeling & Suzanne Garvey & Marie Ward & Martin McNamara, 2022. "Using a Combined Lean and Person-Centred Approach to Support the Resumption of Routine Hospital Activity following the First Wave of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Sinead Moffatt & Catherine Garry & Hannah McCann & Sean Paul Teeling & Marie Ward & Martin McNamara, 2022. "The Use of Lean Six Sigma Methodology in the Reduction of Patient Length of Stay Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Marie E. Ward & Ailish Daly & Martin McNamara & Suzanne Garvey & Sean Paul Teeling, 2022. "A Case Study of a Whole System Approach to Improvement in an Acute Hospital Setting," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-22, January.
    4. Martin McNamara & Marie Ward & Seán Paul Teeling, 2023. "Making a Sustainable Difference to People, Processes and Systems: Whole-Systems Approaches to Process Improvement in Health Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-5, March.
    5. Anne Dempsey & Ciara Robinson & Niamh Moffatt & Therese Hennessy & Annmarie Bradshaw & Sean Paul Teeling & Marie Ward & Martin McNamara, 2021. "Lean Six Sigma Redesign of a Process for Healthcare Mandatory Education in Basic Life Support—A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-18, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kokshagina, Dr Olga, 2021. "Managing shifts to value-based healthcare and value digitalization as a multi-level dynamic capability development process," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    2. Stark, Oded & Budzinski, Wiktor & Kosiorowski, Grzegorz, 2019. "Switching queues, cultural conventions, and social welfare," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(3), pages 837-844.
    3. Andrea Cardoni & Evgeniia Kiseleva & Rosa Lombardi, 2020. "A sustainable governance model to prevent corporate corruption: Integrating anticorruption practices, corporate strategy and business processes," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1173-1185, March.
    4. Lisa O’Mahony & Kerrie McCarthy & Josephine O’Donoghue & Seán Paul Teeling & Marie Ward & Martin McNamara, 2021. "Using Lean Six Sigma to Redesign the Supply Chain to the Operating Room Department of a Private Hospital to Reduce Associated Costs and Release Nursing Time to Care," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, October.
    5. Christina Nikolova & Veronika Garkova, 2022. "Evaluating the Impacts of Passengers’ Rights Policy on the Competitiveness of Airlines and Airport Operators Using the Dynamic Programming Approach," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 1, pages 94-117.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11030-:d:660758. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.