Implementing Lean Six Sigma in a multispecialty hospital through a change management approach
Abstract
Purpose
Many healthcare institutions, such as hospitals, have recently implemented quality improvement initiatives such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS). However, only a few have sustained the initiatives and remained successful. One of the main reasons for the failure of LSS implementation is that managers tend to view LSS as individual projects. Managers lack a Change Management (CM) focus during the implementation. The primary purpose of this study is to document the implementation of LSS through a CM approach to improve sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control (DMAIC) and the Awareness-Desire-Knowledge-Ability-Reinforcement (ADKAR), a popular CM approach, are combined to propose a new framework. The usefulness of the proposed framework is demonstrated using a case study in a multispeciality hospital located in southern India.
Findings
The study found that several factors are responsible for the high Length of Stay (LOS) for patients in the Emergency Department (ED). By implementing this proposed model to implement LSS and taking corrective actions, the average LOS was reduced from 267 to 158 min (a 40% reduction approximately).
Practical implications
The complete step-by-step approach is explained, and the LOS was considerably reduced during the pilot project. The findings will provide valuable insights for healthcare practitioners to understand the steps involved in the combined DMAIC-ADKAR model. The findings would also give healthcare practitioners the confidence to identify suitable tools and implement LSS in organisations where the practitioners work.
Originality/value
According to the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that synergises two models (DMAIC and ADKAR) into a single framework to implement in a hospital.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for the valuable comments, which helped improve the quality of the work done.
Since acceptance of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliation(s): Jiju Antony is the Professor of Operational Excellence at the Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, England, UK.
Citation
Samanta, A.K., Varaprasad, G., Gurumurthy, A. and Antony, J. (2023), "Implementing Lean Six Sigma in a multispecialty hospital through a change management approach", The TQM Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-02-2023-0043
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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