Emergency Department Bottleneck
Emergency Department Bottleneck Proposal
Joyan Thomas
University of Phoenix Online
OPS/HC 571
Patience McGee
March 7, 2011
Emergency Department Bottleneck Proposal
Introduction
Most hospitals experience the affects of the unexpected, ambiguity and uncertainty, and as a result, face challenges with quality. Middletown Hospital is a 200-bed general not-for-profit hospital. The hospital has a 20-bed Emergency Department (ED). It averages 100 patients per day. The CEO of the hospital has been receiving numerous complaints about long waits for care and poor service and has charged the Six Sigma team to analyze the root cause of the bottleneck (University of Phoenix, 2011 Course Syllabus). This paper analyses the root cause of Middletown Hospital’s emergency room bottleneck dilemma, and provide recommendations for improvement.
Purpose of the process improvement proposal
The purpose of this proposal is to capture a granular understanding of the problem in the Emergency Department and devise a plan to capture and maintain an efficient operation. This will be accomplished by gaining an understanding of the patient demand and determining if the source of the problem is due to insufficient capacity or if it is tied to a person, role, or any other obstacles within the department.
Process Improvement Method Using the Six Sigma process improvement method, several steps will identify the bottleneck to improve one aspect of the current process performance. The Six Sigma process is a system of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling (DMAIC) a process for an existing process that fall below specifications and looking for incremental improvements (Swinton, 2006). The process will clearly define the problem in the following manner: • Define the real problem and its impact on quality • Use a root cause analysis, to accurately quantify the current reality of the problem using process mapping, • Dig deep into analyzing non
Joyan Thomas
University of Phoenix Online
OPS/HC 571
Patience McGee
March 7, 2011
Emergency Department Bottleneck Proposal
Introduction
Most hospitals experience the affects of the unexpected, ambiguity and uncertainty, and as a result, face challenges with quality. Middletown Hospital is a 200-bed general not-for-profit hospital. The hospital has a 20-bed Emergency Department (ED). It averages 100 patients per day. The CEO of the hospital has been receiving numerous complaints about long waits for care and poor service and has charged the Six Sigma team to analyze the root cause of the bottleneck (University of Phoenix, 2011 Course Syllabus). This paper analyses the root cause of Middletown Hospital’s emergency room bottleneck dilemma, and provide recommendations for improvement.
Purpose of the process improvement proposal
The purpose of this proposal is to capture a granular understanding of the problem in the Emergency Department and devise a plan to capture and maintain an efficient operation. This will be accomplished by gaining an understanding of the patient demand and determining if the source of the problem is due to insufficient capacity or if it is tied to a person, role, or any other obstacles within the department.
Process Improvement Method Using the Six Sigma process improvement method, several steps will identify the bottleneck to improve one aspect of the current process performance. The Six Sigma process is a system of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling (DMAIC) a process for an existing process that fall below specifications and looking for incremental improvements (Swinton, 2006). The process will clearly define the problem in the following manner: • Define the real problem and its impact on quality • Use a root cause analysis, to accurately quantify the current reality of the problem using process mapping, • Dig deep into analyzing non
References: Langabeer, J. R. (2008). Health Care Operations Management: A Quantitative Approach to Business and Logistics. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc. Rechel, B., Wright, S., Barlow, J., and McKee, M. (2010). Hospital Capacity Planning: from Measuring Stocks to Modeling Flows. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 88(8), 632-636. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/744483685?accountid=35812 HSC Alerts, Retrieved on March 5, 2011, from http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/651/ Swinton, Lindsay, (2006). Process Improvement Made Easy: The Six Sigma Process Improvement Method Explained. Retrieved March 5, 2011, from http://www.mftrou.com/six-sigma-process-improvement.html. Langabeer, J. R. (2008). Health Care Operations Management: A Quantitative Approach to Business and Logistics. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.