Using Lean Six Sigma Kaizen to Improve a Family Birth Center's Performance

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Improving A Family Birth Center’s Performance Through Lean Six Sigma Rehabilitation

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Client: Hospital-based Family Birth Center with 2,200 deliveries annually
Industry: Healthcare
Service: Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen events, 5S

Challenge:

Experiencing growth at a rate of 8% per year
Lack of comprehensive data regarding the Center’s performance
Preliminary benchmarking indicated that efficiency was below state standards

Solutions:

Utilized the Lean Six Sigma methodology to assess and improve the Center’s performance
Started a marketing campaign aimed at creating awareness of the Quality and Services offered by the Birth Center

Results:

Developed a “scorecard approach” for tracking and reporting of performance
Utilized focused Sigma Kaizen Breakthrough events to address measures that were unsatisfactory

Staff members and physicians from the Family Birth Center (FBC) determined that they had to break down the project activities into different sections. They determined that there were three areas of emphasis: patient satisfaction, staff satisfaction, and clinical indicators.

The team began data gathering activities and at the same time began to process map key service delivery processes within the Center.

Quarterly, the FBC received data resulting from completion of satisfaction surveys by patients who received care there. The department focused on two questions, “Satisfied with quality of care and Willingness to recommend to others.” In each case, the FBC scores were higher (better) than the overall facility average.

The department made several changes based on the findings, including altering visiting hours, redesigning the admission process and location, as well as, enhancing opportunities for communication between the unit and physician offices. They also gained feedback from physicians, staff, patients and family members for the standardization and organization of patient rooms, birthing suites and waiting areas. Armed with this data, the team completed 5S in all areas.

Annually, the FBC conducted staff surveys regarding a variety of issues related to overall staff satisfaction, working relationships and the work environment. The key questions were identified as:

“Physicians I work with treat me with respect”
“My Manager treats me with respect”
“My Manager gives me feedback to help improve my job performance”

Team members felt that they had to offer other opportunities for staff members to receive feedback in a more timely and frequent manner. They also developed new channels of communication between physicians and nurses.

The Department identified a number of clinical indicators that are monitored for the Birthing Center. They focused on three key indicators, “Cesarean Section Rate, VBAC Rate and Low Birth Weight Rate.” The team utilized elements of Statistical Process Control to determine if their results were in range of state and federal goals and guidelines.

The team developed a monitoring system based on three types of monitors: Type One “minor process variation”, Type Two “major variation events”, and Type Three “macro level monitoring and trending.”

Chart review standards were set and a process was established to allow non-physician staff members a tool to raise quality of care issues.

Analysis of the performance measures indicated several opportunities for improvement. A team approach utilizing Lean Six Sigma methodology and tools were successful in improving the immediate work environment and establishing processes and standards to ensure a high level of quality in the future.