Process Improvements

Words: 901
Pages: 4

Process improvements are a necessary part of running a business that is able to compete with other business. Process improvements should never be on the shoulder of just one individual, but rather a team of individuals that represent each department (Goetsch & Davis, 2010). The only way that process improvements will have a lasting effect is by getting the entire workforce on board with the changes. Part of getting the employees on board is by choosing the right process improvement plan for the issue at hand. With Mark, Sandra, and Juan, from the reading, this is a concept that they will need to fully embrace. They will need to know how to lead their employees through the process improvement plan, and ensure the right tools are being used. …show more content…
Some process improvement methods are more appropriate for a specific situation than another tool would be. In effort to reduce the turnaround time for test results, I would first need to find out the root cause of the long wait times. Discovering the cause of the problems will help me to address the problems that are occurring. I would need to find out if the long wait times are caused by out dated equipment, understaffing in the lab or nursing staff, communication errors between lab and staff, or if additional training is needed. All of these issues can cause the lab to have a slow turnaround time for processing the samples. Without knowing the causes for the delay, the strategy that I would start with is lean. By rethinking the processes and the workflow should help to streamline the steps for completing the tests in an appropriate and accurate manner (Hawkins, 2007). Once the new workflow has been implemented, I would want to follow up to ensure the lab is able to reduce the turnaround time as predicted. If the turnaround time is not improving, then I would want to test the error rate of the lab. By testing the error rate, I would by using the Six Sigma strategy in order to reduce the turnaround time. If the lab is spending additional time testing and retesting samples, then we would need to find a way to reduce the error rate in our testing process. At John Hopkins, the timeliness of test results is very important. William Henry Welch, the father of American Pathology, began his career at John Hopkins (John Hopkins Medical Center, 2015). Due to the number of patients that come to this facility from all over the world, John Hopkins had to make process improvement over the years in order to process all of the samples in a timely manner. The testing process of cultures is ever changing with new technology advancements. They are the current