The global physical therapy market was USD 26.31 billion in 2023.* We’ll look at applications of Lean and Six Sigma in physical therapy and finish with a video of a day in the life of a physical therapist.

*Source

Assessing the Impact of Lean Six Sigma Practices on the Quality of Physiotherapy Services

In a paper titled “The Impact of Lean Six Sigma Practices on Physiotherapy Services Quality at UNRWA Healthcare Centers, Gaza Strip, Palestine” authors Nabila Mohamed Abu Sharikh and others discuss the impact of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices on physiotherapy service quality at healthcare centers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

The authors designed a questionnaire to collect information about the impact of Lean Six Sigma practices on the quality of physiotherapy services and present the results of their findings and analysis.

You can read the paper here.

Using Lean Six Sigma Methodology to Design a Quality of Physical Therapy Index

In a paper titled “Design of an instrument to measure the quality of care in Physical Therapy” authors Leny Vieira Cavalheiro and others discuss their use of Lean Six Sigma methodology to design an instrument to develop an index that would represent the quality of physical therapy care.

The paper includes:

  • Cause and Effect Matrix
  • Logic Used to Define Weights of Requirements
  • Process Map for Calculation Method for Requirements Indicators
  • Service Quality Checklist
  • Discussion of Service Quality Indicators

The resulting index can identify areas for process improvement and indicate team strengths.

Copy and paste the following link into your browser to access the paper.

Lean Used to Reduce The Time Between On-the-job Accidents and the Beginning of Physical Therapy

In a news release titled “Lean Methodology Can Accelerate Patient Recovery By Spotlighting Inefficiencies” OneCall discusses a study showing that Lean is a suitable methodology to accelerate patient recovery by reducing the time between on-the-job accidents and the beginning of physical therapy treatment.

You can read the news release here. 

Using Lean Six Sigma for Performance Improvement in an Acute Therapy Setting

In a paper titled “Using Lean Six Sigma to improve performance in the acute care setting” authors Julie Toney, Sandy Winterhalter, and Cassie Basting discuss the use of Lean Six Sigma principles in a process improvement project to address inappropriate therapy referrals leading to lost time. 

“Of the inappropriate referrals, those for patients on bed-rest decreased from 23% to 4%; those for patients on sedation decreased from 15% to 10%”

You can read the paper here. 

A Day in the Life of a Physical Therapist

See a typical day in the life of a physical therapist in this video from Spear Physical Therapy.

You can watch the video here. 

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