Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (A) Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Six Sigma at Academic Medical Hospital (A)

Introduction

Academic medical hospital is a teaching medical hospital that is linked with the medical school of a small rural community’s state university. The AMH also an essential contributor to the community. The six sigma is a business strategy that is considered in order to meet the needs of the patients. Six Sigma identifies and remove the reasons of imperfections and reduces the inconsistency in the business processes by enhancing the of process outputs.

Internal / External Analysis 

Set up issue

The patient having the injuries and illness is waiting for the cure in the Emergency Department Academic medical hospital (AMH) for the time period of over an hour. These long waits are normally excused by the numerous physicians because of the difficulty they face in handling of clinical staff and the processes of the emergency rooms that is not acceptable by the patients. The main objective of the company was to diminish the time of the Emergency Department patient wait. AMH implement the Quality Assurance Program, which did not work properly due to some limitation so, the AMH introduced six sigma in order to make their objective successful. The six sigma had the all the management change elements and statistical consistency that was lacking in the previous Quality Assurance Programs.

What needs to be done?

The AMH needs to implement six sigma effectively in order get successful results. The six sigma will help to moderate the medical errors and improve the satisfaction level of the patient. In addition to this, it will also help to decrease inconsistency and waste in procedures. The Academic medical hospital need to be estimated and transmit the economic impacts of the six sigma at the academic medical hospital project. Furthermore, AMH also need to analyze and collect the data efficiently in order to make predictions andscenariosrelated to the project. The program champion needs to be responsive of every feature regarding with the implementation of the project.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

  • Making change in the system through building relationships.
  • Relationships with affiliates and community.
  • The Academic medical hospital has an enthusiastic and outstanding faculty.
  • Focus on providing quality health services and treatment to the patients.
  •  Innovative improvement programs.
  • Cooperative faculty and management.
  • Important contributor to the community.

Weaknesses

  • Long patient waiting hours.
  • Unsuccessful quality Assurance programs.
  • Key team players lack of commitment.
  • Lack of staff motivation.
  • Limited staff resources.

Opportunities

  • Health care reform that may include value based payment, accountable care, develop insurance product, etc.
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  • The activities based on Community health can be multiplied by simply growing the worth positioned on them for campaign and tenure.
  • It can align educational opportunities and clinical consequences. 

Threats

  • Much conflict from the doctor.
  •  Change of improvement not accepted by the majority of the physician.
  • The lack of acceptance by the doctor.
  • Threat of Six Sigma may get unsuccessful. 

Problem

The key  issue in this study is that the AMH is facing problem in satisfying medical professional  to  accept  the  Six Sigma modification in the emergency department of the academic medical hospital. As the long time success of the project depends upon the acceptance of the stakeholders and physicians. The chances for the success of the Six Sigma will be inadequate without the acceptance of the people that are exaggerated and the people that are part of this problem.

 Alternative Solutions to the Problem

The first alternative solution of problem to implement six sigma project at the Academic medical hospital with the acceptance of the physician is to negotiate with the all doctors available in the emergency department of the hospital. In addition to this, by giving the detail information and the knowledge about the benefits of the Six Sigma implementation along with its importance to the patients, doctors and for overall departments in the hospital.

The main advantage if these negotiations get successful is that it will help the hospital to earn long duration outcome by successful implementation of the project. On the other side if the these negotiations get unsuccessful, then the six sigma team of the hospital may implement this project with the acceptance of the doctors that are not satisfied with this initiative of making changes in the emergency department of the hospital. The main disadvantage of the implementing this project without the acceptance of the majority of the doctors would be that there will be less chances for the project to be successful.

The second alternative solution of this problem is that the management of the hospital should increase the number of the doctors by hiring more experienced and skilled physicians those who easily accept these changes. The main advantage of the alternative solution will be that, it will help the six sigma team members successfully reduce.......................

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For 10 years, the main academic medical hospital staff struggled to reduce the amount of time patients spend waiting in the emergency room. Moving patients through the department is challenging and so long waiting time has always been free. But now, the hospital adopted Six Sigma, very disciplined, and large volumes of data optimization techniques of emergency medical operations and reduce patient waiting times. This case traces the development and implementation of the project to improve the black belt. Various stages of Six Sigma methodology (Define, measure, analyze, improve, control) are described in the installation of patient waiting time study and several statistical tools are shown with the operating performance data. The case ends with a black belt taking care of the statistical significance of the results of the recently completed pilot study, as well as a deep-seated resistance to the implementation of several key stakeholders in the hospital and the medical school. Having led his team through various phases of Six Sigma and the completion of the pilot study, a black belt is wondering how to focus the next meeting of the group. Case can be used to teach Six Sigma methodology, criticized the effectiveness of the phase and tools, and to deal with issues of statistical significance and implementation problems. See also B and C cases. "Hide
by Robert D. Landel, Dee C. San Debra Altschuler Source: Darden School of Business 21 pages. Publication Date: December 18, 2002. Prod. #: UV0339-PDF-ENG

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