Lean Six Sigma methodology to improve the discharge process in a Brazilian intensive care unit.

Rev Bras Enferm

Universidade Federal de São Paulo. São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Published: July 2023

Objectives: to describe the Lean Six Sigma implementation process to improve the discharge process in a Brazilian health institution's ICU.

Methods: prospective study following the Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control project development method. This method consists of five phases, namely: project definition, measurement of the starting point and data collection, analysis of results, improvement in processes, and statistical control.

Results: applying Lean Six Sigma methodology following the Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control in the discharge process from the intensive care unit to the inpatient unit was effective in improving processes. This improvement represented a reduction in the mean patient transfer time to the inpatient unit from 189 minutes to 75 minutes, representing a 61% improvement in discharge time.

Conclusions: this article demonstrates the effectiveness of applying Lean Six Sigma methodology to improve the discharge flow in a critical unit, resulting in time and waste reduction.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10332370PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2022-0538DOI Listing

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