Hello my name is Richard Ouellette and I will be talking today on process improvement. In this presentation I have identified 10 key ingredients that are required in order to be successful in a “complex” process improvement undertaking. What sort of circumstances warrant this approach toward process improvement: A combination of several of the following
Complex improvement that may exceed any one individual’s capabilities
A crisis may exist
High level Analytical & group dynamic & project management skills required
Need to draw upon multi-disciplinary expertise from several departments
A requirement to obtain resources that may not be budgeted
The need for an executive sponsor that can garner consensus among disparate interest
The process improvement approach that I will be discussing does not replace ongoing process improvement s that managers make on a daily basis, it simply provides a recommended methodology for complex problem solving and implementation within a complex organization.
This presentation outline is available on line at the address found at the bottom of this slide.
Think of each of the 10 ingredients as individual climbers. Similar to the climbers in these pictures each “ingredient” is tied to one another. Success is for all climbers to start at the mountain base together and to successfully reach the summit together, as a team.
A portion of this presentation is based on a case study. Specific highlights are in red:
Pediatric hospital
70% of the testing drawn by nursing
Significant service related issues
The 1st ingredient is Organization and Leadership
1st point to be stressed is there is no such thing as a “Just a lab project”. If you want to move an instrument it involved engineering, solving a supply storage problem involves purchasing, introduce a new collection tube requires nursing, implement a new test involves finance… and the list goes on.
Healthcare, especially in a hospital is a collection of disciplines operating in silos of expertise. In order to benefit patients these silos must work together and barriers must be bridged. Improvements are generally implemented through project teams. This means that the “Improved department” may need to implement the improvements and they most certainly will have to own and sustain them as well.
Very early into the process the “Project Leader” must explain, where we are currently, where we want to be in the future, what & how & when we will get there. People need to see the “Big Picture
There are a number of key roles with any process improvement effort. Staff, the individuals that do the work need to be involved, managers need to be committed, resources need to be allocated, support needs to be provided by organization leaders and there needs to be a process leader to coordinate implementation and communication.
As with all complex undertaking there is a need to align these dynamic entities so that there is good communication, coordination and goal congruency as depicted by the overlapping circle entities.
I think humor is an important tool in opening up dialog. How often does a lab employee have direct contact with a patient, a nursing unit or a physician. How many nurses or physicians have actually visited the laboratory. The nature of our work puts us in silos but we must fight the negative impact this can have on patient care.
Understanding the customer is ingredient #2
There are 2 six sigma tools that may be helpful, SIPOC & House of Quality
It is important that everyone understand the big picture and the relationships of how things fit together to meet the needs of the customer. SIPOC shows a High-level picture of how the given process is servicing the customer. It promotes understanding and awareness.
The House of Quality tool is used for defining the relationship between customer desires and the laboratory’s capabilities. It is a part of the quality function deployment (QFD) and it utilizes a planning matrix to relate what the customer wants to how the laboratory is going to meet those wants. This tool provides a rigorous approach to getting at what the customer wants and how you are going to make that happen.
What are critical components to quality?
Identify who is the customer, e.g., doctor, physician, nurse, family etc.
What does the customer need
What are their requirements
And… how do you validate requirements with the customer?
What are some of the issues that can lead to failure in meeting customer need?
4 are identified on this slide… but the most prevalent is not understanding the customers requirements.
Important Ingredient # 3 is Rigorous implementation Methodology
Deming started us off with Plan Check Do & Act and the six sigma folks are developed the DMAIC approach (Define, Measure, Improve, Control).
Regardless of which one you use, similar to a recipe either serves as an ordered & structured approach that can be cycled depending on the complexity of the improvements involved.
I have never been involved with a process improvement effort where “project management” skills were not required. There is a tremendous amount of information and detail with tracking project phases, tasks, due dates and deliverable. They say the devil is in the detail so here are 2 recommended resources.
PMBOK
Microsoft Project
Important Ingredient #4 is Understand Testing Demand
Given that the laboratory is the largest producer of clinical information in healthcare it is important that you understand the demand flows and ordering priorities on an inpatient, outpatient and outreach basis.
I will typically look at 3 or more years of testing trends as well as 30 days worth of billed test detail analyzing DOW, HOD testing patterns. I’ll also take a close look at roughly the 40 top tests (out of 700) that tend to generate 85% of the total testing volume. I will go into more detail on this later in the presentation.
This slide shows some of the day of week and within day testing pattern analysis.
Ingredient #5 is Design Space to Optimize Production… we are at the half way point
An entire presentation can be done on this subject alone so let me touch on the key points quickly. The core concept is based on the Pareto concept that I touch upon in Ingredient #4 Under Testing Demand; roughly 40 of you 700 orderable tests constitute 85% of you testing volume. Given this, focus this high volume testing in a centralized, well designed area with unidirectional testing flows that are in close proximity to the specimen receipt area. Design the space to minimize travel. Lay out the equipment so that single operators can operate multiple instruments. Configure your LIS to expedite testing, i.e., bar coding, delta checking, auto verification and STAT monitors. Cross train you technical staff to work in multiple departments. The result is greater efficiencies, quicker testing throughput, enhanced workflows on 2nd, 3rd & weekend shifts and generally… a much more satisfied technical staff.
Cleanliness is next to godliness and unfortunately some laboratories do not understand this concept and the end result is a fraternity house environment. If you walk into the managers or supervisors office and the you find that it is disorganized and messy as well, you need to rethink your 5S implementation… perhaps with a root cause analysis.
Lets talk about grocery stores…
A grocery store with it’s check outs, waiting lines (queues) , bar coding, supply chain management and customer frustration & anxiety serves as a great way to explain how a laboratory functions to a non-labatorian. I would go so far to say that queuing in particular is not given enough emphasis in lean/six sigma methodology… it does however play a more predominate role in TOC Theory of constraints.
Take a look at these picture and please retain the image especially the bar code reader upper right and the queue that is held up on the lower left picture by the customer that decided to write her check only after all her groceries were wrung up and bagged… and then she forgot her pin and needed to make a call. I always seem to be behind these individuals… see that’s me.
I have already touched upon many of these items on this slide… key take aways are proximity and unrestricted flow.
This is a diagram of the pediatric medical center’s core laboratory. It is not ideal space but it does have potential. Remember one of the 1st slides in the presentation with the table full of specimens. That table is here and you should be aware that it was quickly determined that specimen processing space was inadequate and had congested traffic flow.
Spaghetti diagramming was done and it was determined that an day shift laboratory assistant traveled 2 ¼ miles within this space per day and the evening shift assistant traveled a little over 4 miles. This travel is a great way to keep the staff lean, but it is not what Taiichi Ohno at Toyota had in mind.
The focus of the improvements was in this area:
Locating high production equipment in close proximity to support specimen share and reduced travel distance
Breaking down a non-load bearing wall and turning the new space into automated chemistry. Eliminating a non-load bearing wall that created a blind alley bottleneck.
Completely re-designing specimen processing work area and standardizing work activities
Here is the new space… actual construction costs were $45,000
Note the new processing space and automated chemistry and the workflow pattern indicated by the green arrows.
This space is also configured for outreach should this client wish to venture into this
Here are some pictures of the improvements
STAT monitors that provide real-time performance feedback, also referred to later in this presentation as “performance visualization”.
Upper left slide – expanded work space as opposed to the slide shown earlier in this presentation.
Processing area has been centralized with defined workstations in individual responsibilities assigned, aka “work standardization”
Petition wall removed for better workflow in chemistry area
Once again… looking into a healthcare silo can be difficult as this picture indicates. Stanley Marash author of Fusion Management may have used this slide as an example of leadership in some organizations and why process improvement did not work.
Important ingredient #6 is instrumentation
Every manufacturer of testing equipment will provide you with it’s throughput capabilities as well of, operational instructions and expected staffing. So for example, if you have a hematology instrument that can produce 60 tests per hour and you have certain hours of the day that exceed this throughput, e.g., 80 test/hour 7 – 10 AM, you know you have a bottleneck that you can resolve in 1 of 3 ways
Buy an additional analyze to double throughput
Divert testing demand… start the morning earlier
Do nothing
With todays instrumentation automation, testing bottle necks are not typically occurring in the analytical phase of testing. I’ll touch upon this when discussing the next key ingredient.
We are in the home stretch. Ingredient #7 is Eliminate Process bottlenecks
When looking at any complex process it is important to break it down to it’s individual pieces and study them in detail. There are several tools that can be used to accomplish this including process, swim-lane and value stream mapping. It is OK for the process leader to develop initial drafts of these maps but it is important that the project team actively participate and reach consensus on the final documents. Customer demand could be accessions/day or accessions/1st shift or tests/day or hematology tests/day. Takt time takes the minutes of work /unit produced, e.g., if there were 200 CBCs on 1 shift (assume 8 X 60 = 480 Minutes) the Takt time would be 480/200 = 4.8 minutes per CBC to keep up within 1st shift demand. The mix and coordination of resources (phlebotomy, transportation, information systems & instrumentation) constituents the “supplies you will allocate to meet this “demand”.
Some key points…
You may not have perfect data to apply to these mapping tools; it can run the gamut from obtain near perfect real time information from the list to time studies and counting test tubes and accession arrivals. It is important to understand the limitations of the data you are using and that it ties out to you measures ,e.g., physician expectations are tied to completed tests, phlebotomy & speciment receipt is tied to accessions… 2 very different denominators
These are powerful tools and they can be as complex or simple as you want them to be… keep it simple. 3 relatively simple value stream maps may be more effective than 1 complex one that no one can understand other than the black belt that put it together.
These are visual tools. If any member of you process improvement teams does not understand their output they offer little to no value to your improvement effort.
This diagram depicts the Pre-analytic, Analytic & post-analytic phases of producing a laboratory result and the individual steps involved in the process.
Results reporting – quality aspect of this step that we are looking at related to delta checking and auto-verification
The laboratory is responsible for 8 of these steps in both the Pre-analytic and analytic phases. When examining the testing continuum it is important to look in detail at each for these steps and carefully examine the resource you are deploying. Let me stress, it is important that the laboratory take responsibility for all 8 steps identified in this diagram, even, for example, if they are not be collecting the specimen. I’ll talk more about this in establishing performance metrics.
This is a swim lane process diagram and it is useful in showing process steps by area of responsibility.
This is a swim lane process diagram and it is useful in showing process steps by area of responsibility.
This is a value stream map and it can be closely tied to the SIPOC diagram that I mentioned earlier. Each box on the bottom depicts a process step going from left to right. The yellow triangles typically represent inventory, however they can also be used to reflect patients or tests in a queue between process steps. The objective in using value stream mapping is to optimize the supplied resources to closely match customer demand; supply vs. demand.
OK lets look at the pediatric core laboratory and the issues identified in this simplified value stream map looking at the various steps of draw, transport receive, process test verify and report.
The tube system was not trusted and we also leaned that there were tube container shortages
Nursing was manually tracking test orders and collections; the lab was printing collection floor lists at defined times. As a result, add-on orders created multiple accessions on the same specimen and there were a number of instances of inadequate specimen. This was a problem for nursing and it was a big problem for the lab when these specimens were received and needed to be reconciled.
Poor & inadequate space in specimen receipt & processing
Delta checking & auto-verification were not being used
There were significant backups of specimens throughout each step creating a significant lead-time of roughly 2 hours
Future State
Tube system was validated and new transport containers purchased
Epic EMR installation delayed in order to give nursing ability to pull own collection list
Processing area reengineered
LIS functionality was expanded to include delta checking, auto-verification, specimen tracking and STAT monitors
Lead-time was cut roughly in half and value added time was reduced by roughly 2 minutes
Fair or unfair, like it or not, the lab is held responsible to all 8 of the pre-analytic and analytic steps, even if they do not directly control all of the steps, e.g., in the pediatric medical center 70% of the tests were collected by nursing, not the laboratory.
You must establish performance goals as a department and for implementing process improvements. Otherwise, how do you, your customers and your executive sponsor know you are performing at acceptable levels. Your performance goals need to be measurable, timely and made available to your staff and customers
There is an old saying that I heard early in my laboratory career….
Few have been bitten by an elephant but almost everyone has been bitten by a mosquito. Basically what this means is that it is the most frequently ordered tests that will bite you if they are delayed, not the big expensive esoteric send-outs.
Here is a recommended approach that I have successfully used for a number of years.
…. Read from slide
You also need to be very specific on your metric, e.g., 1 hour from ordered for to report result.
I have not run into a medical staff that opposed this approach, most were estotic especially when the laboratory started delivering on the TATs.
Here is an example of what I mean by Pareto. I took a months worth of performed tests and ordered them in ascending order. The top 15 tests constitutes 54% of the test volume and all of these tests are in this clients STAT test list.
Therefore including the high volume STAT tests list in your metric will include 57% of all of your tests, 48% of all of your routine tests and 76% of all of your STAT tests
Reduce Error and variation is item # 9.
Once you understand you testing demands, have identified your bottlenecks and established targeted performance metrics, you are now ready to roll up your sleeves and make improvements. The goal is to move performance from what is shown on the left to the graph shown on the right. Note that the red line id the performance goal.
Daily dashboards with individual drill down exception reports for each metric is an effective “visual” tool in accelerating change especially when you share it daily with your staff, nursing and key physicians. Regardless of stumbles, everyone knows you are committed to these improvements.
Important point
Important point… do not assume that everyone knows how to read and interpret a dashboard or drill down report. Go over them in detail at staff meetings and do one-on-ones with key nurses and physicians.
Reduce Error and variation is item # 9.
Once you understand you testing demands, have identified your bottlenecks and established targeted performance metrics, you are now ready to roll up your sleeves and make improvements. The goal is to move performance from what is shown on the left to the graph shown on the right. Note that the red line id the performance goal.
Important point… do not assume that everyone knows how to read and interpret a dashboard or drill down report. Go over them in detail at staff meetings and do one-on-ones with key nurses and physicians.
The last important ingredient is Performance Visualization.
Keep in mind that we want to make significant improvements, so you need to understand human nature. As this graph shows people retain visual information to a much greater degree than what they hear or see. We have all heard that a picture is worth a 1,000 words. And let me add I am not talking just about graphs and dashboards. You gain significant credibility in you process improvement efforts when you meet in person with 2nd shift staff during the evening, 3rd shift in the early AM or the weekend crew on Saturday. Having executive management, physicians and your pathologist visibly present, engaged and participating in process improvement efforts is very important.
Did you ever wonder why religions plays such a big role in many of our lives? Here is my take… religion shows you the big picture from start to finish, what you need to do right and what you should not be doing. Furthermore, if you do everything right it tells you how you will be rewarded. So, if my assessment is correct, most people due to their upbringing have a predisposition for wanting to see the big picture, do what is right and participate in the rewards.
NEED TO REMOVE TIE TO RELIGION
We are at the end with a few wrap up slides….
This compares March vs July’s cumulative testing completed. Note that in July 6 AM work was completed whereas the same work in march was being completed at 7:30 AM.
This slide shows the 3 major performance metric trend with major initiatives depicted below on the March – June time table. The implementation cycle was rigorous and the improvements were as well.
This was the ER’s laboratory performance graph with improvements starting in March - August
This brings this presentation to a close
Think of each of the 10 ingredients as individual climbers. Similar to the climbers in these pictures each “ingredient” is tied to one another. Success is for all climbers to start at the mountain base together and to successfully reach the summit together, as a team.
Let me leave you with a few summary thoughts. I would like to thank you for your time and interest.
There is an old saying that I heard early in my laboratory career….
Few have been bitten by an elephant but almost everyone has been bitten by a mosquito. Basically what this means is that it is the most frequently ordered tests that will bite you if they are delayed, not the big expensive esoteric send-outs.