Title: Lean Six Sigma application in healthcare of patients

Authors: Basant Chaurasia; Dixit Garg; Ashish Agarwal

Addresses: IIMT Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Haryana – 136119, Kurukshetra, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the Lean Six Sigma application in healthcare of patient with bone and brain metastasis through chemotherapy, to reduce process waiting time and improve first-time quality. The Lean Six Sigma project was carried out by the group of five experts (Six Sigma champion = 01, master black belt = 02, black belt = 02) having more than ten years of experience in the healthcare sector. An exploratory case study was indigenously conducted to reveal Lean Six Sigma method implementation in healthcare with the existing available facilities. The study also explores differences between lean and Six Sigma approach and integration together. The results were witnessed process cycle time of patients reduced from ten days to the single day and first-time quality was 100%. This study suggests intuitive Lean Six Sigma approach to the healthcare of patients, suffering from chronic diseases anticipates getting proper and timeliness healthcare services. Relating healthcare with Lean Six Sigma is a leading approach for super-specialised patient care.

Keywords: lean thinking; patient satisfaction; Six Sigma; quality healthcare.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIE.2017.087670

International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise, 2017 Vol.4 No.3, pp.275 - 282

Received: 12 Oct 2016
Accepted: 21 May 2017
Published online: 30 Oct 2017 *

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