Hospital – Lean Six Sigma Moneybelt

Is Your Customer Bothering You?

Is your customer bothering you? Do they make you angry sometimes because they won’t do what you want them to do? Here’s how to think about it:

“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“My friend Shelle Rose Charvet wrote a book called “The Customer Is Bothering Me” and I thought that that was kind of a good thought to think about for a little bit. Do you ever get kind of angry with your customer for not doing what your customer needs to do to make life easier for you?

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Service.

How is a Hospital Like a Car Dealership?

I got a call from a QI Macros customer who works at a luxury car dealership. Customers were upset because their cars were spending too long in the shop. The dealership tracked the length of stay of every car, the symptoms and barriers to getting the car done when expected.

I was struck by the similarities between what he was describing and a hospital. Patients come in, get diagnosed, treated, admitted and eventually discharged. This is the same problem as the maintenance shop.

I asked if the maintenance department had information about the type of problem, missing parts, age of the car and so on.

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Healthcare, Lean, QI Macros, Service, Six Sigma.

Color Kanban for Hospitals

Almost every hospital storage room I’ve seen uses one color of kanban storage bin. This makes it harder to find what you want unless you know where it is. What if hospitals used colored kanban bins for the their two-bin kanban system (one in use, one for backup)? Red for blood; yellow for urinary, blue for respiratory? Wouldn’t that make it much easier to find needed supplies? colored kanban storage bins hospital