Compare and contrast Six Sigma and the Lean process. Which one would you use for improving quality in a healthcare setting and why?

Compare

Both Lean and Six Sigma are quality improvement tools used by managers. 

Both Lean and Six Sigma require rigorous work during application and are data driven.

Both Lean and Six Sigma can be used in various big organizations as seen in places like Toyota, ThedaCare, Virginia Mason Medical Center (lean), Johns Hopkins Hospital (six sigma)et cetra. 

Both Lean and Six Sigma aim to reduce waste in the process of production/service delivery.

Contrast

Lean: Identifies waste as Overproduction, Waiting,Transport, Motion, Over-processing, Inventory & Defects, using this model requires less movement of materials and less inventory needed which mean less resources and time used.

Six Sigma: “DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) model, in a specific order is used to develop, design and redesign a process so that there’s effectively a 3.4 defects per million chance that an error will occur” (Linn, 2016)

Lean:   Lean methods are about people and relationships. Everyone — whether a maintenance worker, a physician or an executive — can participate and they all understand how it applies to their work. (Linn)

Six Sigma: Experts and consultants are brought in to work to achieve it as it requires rigorous methodology, scientific application like statistics, standard deviations and such.

Lean: has seen more empirical tests and use amongst managers, going as far back as Henry Ford the car maker.

Six Sigma: has seen less empirical testing than Lean and been used by fewer individuals/organizations.

Lean: Its more focused on streamlining processes, flow and increasing speed by removing bottlenecks.

Six Sigma: is more focused on results from solving problems

Lean: is not as time-consuming but it may be labour-intensive.

Six Sigma: is quite time-consuming as it requires gathering and analysis of vast amount of statistics and data.

“Lean strives to maximize value to the customer while using as few resources as possible. Six Sigma strives for perfect results that will reduce costs and achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction.” (Johnson, 2017)

Lean: can be used in a small organization.

Sigma can not be used in a small organization as it requires a lot of resources and might not be a prudent choice if so much is spent on only part of the organization

The biggest difference between Lean and Six Sigma is that they view the causes of waste very differently; Lean views waste as unnecessarily high inventory count, unnecessary steps in production process and high number of work-in-progress, while Six Sigma sees waste as variations in the process towards client/customer satisfaction, as opposed to having one perfect process.

For improving quality in healthcare setting, knowing “Health care is highly variable, but lean is adaptable and flexible enough to be a good fit.”  (Linn). In a healthcare setting for example a primary care / general hospital or even urgent care, I would suggest the Lean method of continuous quality improvement as it doesn’t require experts/consultants to implement but an all hands on decks with no discrimination amont units or individuals partaking. Also Lean’s cost-saving properties makes it useful for large general hospitals who due to high traffic and staffing will require things like gauze and drip often, so there are chances of doubles counting departmental requests by Administration and purchasing over the quantity required by procurement; leading to waste. While if it were a private practice, say cosmetic surgery, high-end fertility centers and such, I would recommend Six Sigma having perfect result is the only option for these places as the patients not only expect but pay top price for seamless procedures and the nature of these treatments means eliminating defects, all other process variations and being error free.

There are instances where Lean and Six Sigma have been combined and combined effectively for example By “North Mississippi Medical Center reduced the number of prescription instruction errors in discharge documents by 50%” (Haskins, n.d.).

Which ever I recommend will also be based on certain things: choosing the quality improvement (healthcare) partner that is right for the healthcare organization I manage (their achievements is in tandem with where we want to reach as an organization) plus the ability to carry my employees along, getting the healthcare organization we are trying to “emulate” to work on quality improvement with us and affordability viz-a-viz organization size.

Reference 

                      Haskins, K., (n.d.). Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.Retrieved from http://asq.org/healthcaresixsigma/lean-six-sigma.html

                      Johnson, J., (2017, May 24th). Lean vs Six Sigma: What’s the Difference & Use Cases Retrieved from https://tallyfy.com/lean-vs-six-sigma/

                      Linn, M., (2016, February 10). Which Is Better for Engaging Health Care Staff: Lean or Six Sigma? Virginia Mason Institute Retrieved from https://www.virginiamasoninstitute.org/2016/02/better-engaging-health-care-staff-lean-six-sigma/