Six Sigma and Health Care

ABSTRACT

The healthcare industry, as a whole, is plagued with errors that result in tens of thousands of deaths and costs several billion dollars in the United States yearly. The following paper will describe how the Six Sigma process, an approach traditionally applied to the manufacturing industry, which is designed to reduce process errors to result in the fewest defects possible can be implemented in the healthcare industry to reduce the errors in the medical field. The paper in its entirety will explain what the Six Sigma approach is and the features of the Six Sigma process that are imperative to its success. The paper will identify areas of the healthcare industry where Six Sigma can be applied and give examples of successful implementations of the Six Sigma in a variety of fields in the healthcare industry. The paper will then conclude with factors that are critical to success in healthcare organizations implementing the Six Sigma approach and barriers that exist in implementing Six Sigma in the healthcare industry. The paper will ultimately advocate that the Six Sigma approach should be implemented in healthcare organizations to decrease medical errors that can cause potential harm to peoples, additionally implementing Six Sigma will result in the increase in overall bottom line financials of the healthcare organization that apply Six Sigma.

Applying Six Sigma to the Health Care Industry

Six Sigma is classified as one of the most powerful business strategies that has dramatically changed the position of the healthcare industry within the last twenty years. It is a process improvements methodology which has been employed in the healthcare sector to help in reducing rates of medical errors. In the current healthcare industry, the Six Sigma process is viewed as a systematic, disciplined and data driven approach which is used to reduce the rate of process variations (Krishnamoorth, 2011). Six Sigma’s operational nature is that it basically focuses on...