Six Sigma Training for Healthcare: Improve Patient Outcomes & Efficiency

Six Sigma is a well-established formal process improvement methodology in business and industry. Formal process improvement in health care can help providers operate more efficiently, which in turn can lead to better patient care and lives saved. For this reason, health care providers often send their management staff to Six Sigma training.

Identification

• Six Sigma is about identifying and eliminating defects in products and/or processes. The health care industry is one industry where process defects cannot be tolerated.Six Sigma for health care involves training heathcare professionals in process improvement methodologies based on those originally developed in the manufacturing industry.

Function

• The foundational tools taught in Six Sigma training are the five process improvement

  steps referred as the DMAIC, or define, measure, analyze, improve and control. These five steps deploy statistical and other analytical tools to identify the root cause of a problem, fix the problem and then ensure the fix remains intact. Once people learn these tools, they can apply them to any industry, including health care.

Health Care Considerations

• Six Sigma projects result in process change. In a critical health care environment, change to established processes can cause anxiety and reluctance among employees. Therefore, some training organizations offer special Six Sigma training for the health care industry.

Certifications

• Three levels of certifications associated with Six Sigma are the Six Sigma Green Belt, Six Sigma Black Belt and Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Health care professionals can choose the level they wish to pursue. The Green Belt is the starting point, and the Master Black Belt represents the highest level of certification.