With new regulations, clinical advancements and technological breakthroughs, the healthcare industry continues to be in a state of change. As consumers become more educated and patient satisfaction continues to be at the forefront, providers are focusing on ways to deliver high levels of service to consumers in all areas of healthcare. It's often necessary to determine new and better ways of providing care with the same amount of resources. In order to do this, it's important to ensure that processes are as efficient as possible.
Process improvement is a proactive approach to reviewing existing processes and practices, making changes that create efficiencies and monitoring progress. When fully implemented, process improvement initiatives can result in efficiencies, increased communication, improved staff satisfaction and more time to spend with patients.
As a health system or acute care facility embarks on the process improvement journey, it's important to structure the project in a way that will achieve the best outcomes. Some areas of focus should include:
Facilitation
When your team is engaged in the process every day, they become the experts. They know the process better than anyone else. But, do they know how to improve it?
Having a facilitator that fully understands the components of improving a process is a key to success. This person needs to dedicate time to oversee the entire project and keep it moving forward. Here are some top reasons to have a facilitator:
Stakeholders
Choosing the right stakeholders is a direct effect on the success of the project. If the right stakeholders are not involved, project delays are likely to occur as other team members will need to be consulted as to how the current process works.
With so many knowledgeable team members, how do you decide who will make up a project team? The answer is easier than one may think. Stakeholders own the process. They are the ones that do the work every day and can explain it in detail. They are fully invested in the improvements because it will have direct effects on their work flow.
As you choose stakeholders, it's important that project expectations and timelines are set. This enables each project group member to dedicate the appropriate amount of time and resources. This dedication of time and focus will help ensure the project progresses.
Project Scope
The scope of a project helps define boundaries. It is important that the scope is clearly defined so that it meets the needs of the health system and supports the intended goals. If a scope is not the right size, it may need to be adjusted midway through the project.
In order to ensure you have an appropriate scope, consider the ROI. If the scope is too small, the impact may not be big enough to justify the time and effort spent. If the scope is too large, the team may not be able to manage the project effectively and move it forward.
Process improvement measures are often multifaceted, so understanding the scope can also help redirect the project so that it doesn't become too large and unmanageable. Often, the review of current processes leads to other areas that need improved. As this occurs, many other conversations and idea sharing begins. With a clearly defined scope, it's possible to bring the team’s focus back to the project at hand.
Education
Process improvement is time consuming and can be a big undertaking, especially for a team that has time constraints due to other responsibilities. Even though it seems nearly impossible to dedicate resources to these projects, the benefits of getting processes aligned with goals and creating efficiencies can create results that equal more time and better outcomes.
In order for a team to embrace a project fully, they need to understand why they have been selected to do it. Educating the entire team at the beginning of the project helps clear up questions and gain support. When educating the team, consider:
Follow Up
Having a facilitator, selecting the right stakeholders, clearly defining project scope and educating the team are all key factors to successful implementation of process improvement. Even with all of these factors in place for the initial process improvement, it is not uncommon to see a process breakdown over time. This is often because systems have not been implemented to monitor ongoing success and review for further improvements. To increase the success of your process improvement, consider the following steps:
As the healthcare industry continues to rapidly advance, the need for health systems and acute care facilities to focus on continual process improvement becomes even more essential. Concordance Healthcare Solutions understands this and is dedicated to working with providers to ensure the supply chain is as efficient as possible. Contact us today to learn more.