Application of Six Sigma to Reduce Medical Errors

Medication administration and laboratory processing/results reporting are examples of complex systems in healthcare that are known to be error prone. At Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, errors with IV medication drips and laboratory processing and results reporting were well documented. The purpose of this paper is to describe our initial experience utilizing the Six Sigma methodology to reduce medication and laboratory errors and improve patient safety in a tertiary care hospital affiliated with an academic medical center. The specific long-term project goal is to determine whether this error reduction methodology can be successfully applied in healthcare to improve patient safety.