Lean nursing

Complaints with respect to the management of health care and healthcare delivery are huge. In combination with the drastic increases over the past decades in the cost of health care, we may say that health care is in serious trouble.

Fortunately, the quality profession can help to solve some of these problems. An important new application area for quality engineering concepts and methods is health care, where applications to processes are challenging.

In this ‘‘Quality Quandaries’’ column we provide an example of the application of Lean Six Sigma in health care. The specific case study is about reducing the length of stay of patients with a total hip replacement. First, we provide a brief background for the case study. We then highlight some of the statistical aspects. After the major improvements were implemented, the team continue with Kaizen principles (cf. Imai 1986). This study is interesting because, unlike the common assumption, it shows that there is no trade-off between quality and cost; we can improve quality while at the same time reducing costs.

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