Anesthesia is critical around the world in order to prevent patients from feeling pain during operations and other procedures. Anesthesiology is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. We’ll look at several applications of Lean and Six Sigma in that practice and finish with a video of how an anesthesiologist sets up an operating room for surgery.
Lean Implementation and Perioperative Anesthesia
In a paper titled “Perioperative Anesthesia Lean Implementation IS Associated With Increased Operative Efficiency in Posterior Cervical Surgeries at a High-Volume Spine Center,” authors Simon G. Ammanuel and others assess changes in OR efficiency after the application of Lean methodology on perioperative anesthesia associated with posterior cervical spine surgeries.
The paper includes:
- Framework of the Lean Methodology Applied
- Depiction of the Key Steps Throughout the Perioperative Anesthesia Process
- Description of the Lean Improvement Strategies Implemented
After implementation of the LSS improvement strategies, the perioperative anesthesia time was significantly reduced by over 12 minutes, on average.
You can read the paper here.
Lean Six Sigma Methodology and Anesthesiology
In a paper titled “Lean Six Sigma Methodology and the Future of Quality Improvement Education in Anesthesiology” Authors Neal K. Shah and Trent D. Emerick discuss Lean Six Sigma and its use in quality improvement education for anesthesiology residents.
“At our institution, we are actively incorporating Lean Six Sigma methodology into our curriculum. All graduating residents at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) are required to complete a quality improvement project within the department and present their work at a symposium in the spring of their postgraduate year 4 (PGY4) of residency.”
You can read the paper here.
Lessons Learned from Industries and Applied in Anesthesiology
In an article titled “Beyond the borders: Lessons from various industries adopted in anesthesiology,” authors Subramanyam S. Mahankali and Priya Nair cover the lessons learned from various industries and their application in anesthesiology.
As the authors say,
“This article emphasizes on learnings from other industries in the recent decades, focusing on aviation, high-reliability organizations, car manufacturing, telecommunication, car racing, entertainment, and retail.”
From the article:
Other figures include:
- Formula 1 Pit Stop Job Allocation and Sequencing
- Handover Technique from Theater Team to ICU Team
You can read the article here.
How an Anesthesiologist Sets Up an Operating Room for Surgery
In this video, Max Feinstein, MD anesthesiologist shows how he sets up an operating room for surgery.
You can watch the video here
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