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Ambulatory Clinic Lean Performance Improvement
UCLA Neurosurgical Clinical Quality Program:
Lean Health Care Initiative
Another focus on improving the quality of health care in the Department of Neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA was the establishment of the Ambulatory Clinic Lean Performance Improvement initiative. The foundational quality of care goal of this lean health care initiative is to improve the value of health care services in the Neurosurgery ambulatory clinic by reducing system waste from a patient-centered perspective.
In many healthcare settings the management of scarce resources such as personnel can be an operational challenge. In a clinic setting, personnel coverage is especially important in providing an adequate flow of patient information beginning with the initial patient phone call, scheduling an appointment for a clinic visit, the visit, and subsequent follow-up and scheduling post clinic. Ambulatory neurosurgical consultations are information intensive and acquiring this information from referring physicians often requires a quick turnaround to prepare. Failure to provide a seamless, efficient process to the patient risks patient and physician dissatisfaction and potential loss of patients to competitors.
To begin this initiative, Department leadership established both a Performance Improvement Steering Committee and a core working group of representative faculty and staff. The core working group was then trained to identify and eliminate waste in the system by using the Lean toolkit. The team used Lean principles to look at our process, and then develop, pilot and implement department-wide improvements to provide better patient care, increase productivity and capability, and improve patient & staff satisfaction. The ambulatory quality metrics of the initiative have shown improved value to the patient, and are being monitored and sustained.
The Ambulatory Clinic Lean Performance Improvement initiative has implemented the following improvements to improve the value and quality of care to the patient. Please open these (PDF) detailed descriptions.
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| Applying Lean to Improve Resource Utilization and Increase Patient Satisfaction Download (PDF) » | Streamlining the Receipt and Upload of Diagnostic Images in a Clinic Setting Download (PDF) » |
If you have any questions about our Ambulatory Clinic Lean Performance Improvement initiative, please contact Douglas Niedzwiecki at dniedzwiecki@mednet.ucla.edu
