Improving the Hospital Discharge Process with Six Sigma Methods

Theodore T. Allen, Shih-Hsien Tseng, Kerry Swanson, Mary Ann McClay Industrial & Systems Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio President of St. Mary’s Janesville Hospital, Janesville, Wisconsin Process Excellence Black Belt, Sagata Ltd., Columbus, Ohio ABSTRACT This article describes the application of a five-phase Six Sigma define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC) approach to streamline patient discharge at a community hospital. Within the context of the five phases, the team applied statistical process control (SPC) charting, process mapping, Pareto charting, and cause-and-effect matrices to make decisions. The findings suggested that focusing on physician preparation for discharge order writing would have the greatest impact. A significant reduction in the average discharge time from 3.3 to 2.8 h was realized (p1⁄4 0.06) and missing chart data was reduced by 62%.