I have a renewed fascination with Six Sigma. Data analysis has always been something that interests me, so it should be no surprise that I am filled with wonder and delight over Six Sigma. If you are not familiar with it, Six Sigma is a set of methodologies and tools used to reduce defects and errors, minimizing variation, and increasing quality and efficiency. The goal of Six Sigma is to achieve a level of quality that is nearly perfect. Six Sigma performance produces a defect-free product 99.99966% of the time, while Five sigma produces a defect-free product only 99.977% of the time. For those of you who shrug your shoulders and say, “What’s the big deal between 99.977% and 99.99966%?”, let me just tell you. The difference is that Six sigma has only 3.4 defects/errors per million opportunities. Compare this to Five Sigma which is about 233 defects/errors per million. When it comes to the medical field, the difference can be life and death (or what we call a sentinel event). For medication errors, surgical errors, procedural errors, dietary errors, patient identification errors, etc -any error can lead to a negative outcome. Therefore data analysis and process improvement are essential.
It is imperative that we as leaders find out what the barriers are in order to find root cause and solutions. The focus this week has been on our facility documentation rate/percentage. We stand right now at a 58% completion rate for documentation. I used the completion rate to demonstrate to the staff where we fall according to Six Sigma (58% classifies under One Sigma, which would be about 690,000 defects/errors per million). I could see the surprise on their faces at the possibility of making this many mistakes. What would that look like? The possibility of wrong medications or doses, wrong food items or consistency, allergic reactions, incorrect doctor orders; all of which could lead to unnecessary ER visits, unnecessary procedures and/or medications, unnecessary stress on the patient and family, and worse.
My question to the staff was, “What would it take for us to get to Six Sigma?”. I could see the ‘wheels turning in their heads’, I had their interest. Among many things, I learned that we do not have enough devices for everyone to chart on. I was able to contact IT and add 3 more devices before the end of the day (it really wasn’t as easy as it sounds -I advocated with an assertiveness that couldn’t be dismissed). I consider it an absolute “win” to have peaked their curiosity and gained their interest in process improvement. More to come…..
We went to an oyster festival and were able to sample a variety from different farms. They were delicious! Not even comparable to the ones that I had eaten my whole life from the Gulf of Mexico. My expectations have been raised and I will most likely never enjoy one from home again.
Wookie had his first haircut here. I think he looks like somewhere between Big Bird, an ostrich, or RJ from Over The Hedge. I laugh every time that I look at him, but it will grow back. We had a sensitive situation with a patient at the facility this past week and we are in the middle of trying to resolve it. The administrator asked me if I thought we could ‘interview’ the patient in a manner that she would be comfortable and not feel interrogated. I immediately suggested the use of Wookie. When he comes to work with me, she is one of the first patients that we visit. He removes the formality that my presence sometimes brings, and provides an opportunity to have casual conversation. She was immediately agreeable and grateful for the suggestion, and Wookie and I look forward to the visit. Oh, the magic of my sweet Wookie. His work never ceases to amaze me and I experience so much joy over the opportunity to share him with everyone, everywhere.
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