Lean Six Sigma for Healthcare Training Course

Participants can select an appropriate healthcare problem and create a focused project charter.

• Selection criteria balancing patient impact, strategic need, feasibility and data access
• A3 problem statement defining gap, population, location and time period
• Project charter elements: aim, scope, team, milestones, risks and measures
• SMART aims expressed with baseline, target, deadline and affected population
• In-scope and out-of-scope boundaries preventing uncontrolled project expansion
• Stakeholder analysis using influence, interest, resistance and engagement actions

Participants can translate patient, staff and commissioner needs into measurable requirements.

• Voice-of-the-customer sources: complaints, surveys, interviews, observations and incident reports
• Patient journey moments that shape confidence, dignity, access and communication
• Critical-to-quality trees converting broad needs into measurable service requirements
• Kano analysis distinguishing basic, performance and attractive patient requirements
• Staff voice captured for workflow barriers, workarounds and safety concerns
• Requirement statements tested for clarity, measurability and process ownership

Participants can define process boundaries, customers, suppliers, inputs and outputs using SIPOC.

• SIPOC boundaries for referral, assessment, treatment, discharge and follow-up pathways
• Suppliers and inputs affecting clinical readiness, information quality and scheduling
• Outputs specified as completed care, information, decisions or service handovers
• Customer groups separated by patient, family, clinician, commissioner and regulator needs
• High-level process steps identifying start points, end points and interfaces
• Scope assumptions documented before detailed mapping and data collection begin

Participants can map a current-state healthcare process and identify delays, handoffs and rework.

• Swimlane maps showing responsibilities across clinical, administrative and support teams
• Patient journey mapping from referral receipt through completed care episode
• Decision points, queues, handoffs, loops and exception routes recorded visibly
• Cycle time, waiting time and touch time distinguished within pathway maps
• Information flows mapped alongside physical movement, orders and clinical documentation
• Map validation with frontline staff, process owners and patient representatives

Participants can identify and categorise non-value-adding activity in healthcare pathways.

• TIMWOODS wastes interpreted for patient care, diagnostics and administrative services
• Waiting caused by batching, unavailable information, approvals and poor scheduling
• Defects traced through incomplete referrals, duplicate records and missing documentation
• Motion and transportation assessed in ward, clinic and diagnostic workflows
• Overprocessing identified in duplicate checks, forms and unnecessary data entry
• Value-added classification based on patient need, clinical necessity and legal requirements

Participants can design a measurement plan that produces reliable healthcare process data.

• Operational definitions specifying numerator, denominator, inclusion rules and exclusions
• Process, outcome, balancing and compliance measures selected for improvement projects
• Data-collection plans defining source systems, owners, frequency and validation checks
• Sampling strategies for large caseloads, variable demand and limited analyst capacity
• Data-quality checks for missing values, duplicates, timestamps and coding inconsistency
• Confidentiality controls for patient-identifiable information and sensitive workforce data

Participants can establish a baseline using suitable descriptive measures and visual displays.

• Baseline periods selected to reflect demand cycles, staffing patterns and seasonality
• Mean, median, range and standard deviation interpreted for healthcare process measures
• Histograms used to inspect waiting-time distributions, delays and extreme values
• Stratification by pathway, clinic, location, urgency, clinician and patient group
• Pareto charts ranking defect categories, delay causes and rework sources
• Baseline narratives separating observed facts, assumptions and unanswered questions

Participants can distinguish routine variation from signals requiring investigation.

• Common-cause and special-cause variation interpreted within service performance data
• Run charts constructed using median lines, shifts, trends and astronomical points
• Control-chart selection for continuous measures, proportions, counts and rates
• Individuals charts applied to waiting times, turnaround times and daily demand
• P-charts used for monthly compliance, error and defect proportions
• Control limits distinguished from targets, specifications and escalation thresholds

Participants can identify plausible root causes and validate them with evidence.

• Fishbone diagrams structured around people, process, equipment, materials, environment and measurement
• Five whys used carefully to trace causes without assigning individual blame
• Cause-and-effect matrices connecting input variables to critical quality requirements
• Process observations used to test reported workflows against actual work
• Stratified data used to confirm whether suspected causes explain variation
• Root-cause statements written as testable process conditions rather than opinions

Participants can use FMEA to prioritise process failures and preventive controls.

• FMEA scope defined around a process step, handoff or treatment pathway
• Failure modes identified from process maps, incidents, complaints and observations
• Severity, occurrence and detection ratings applied using agreed scoring criteria
• Risk priority numbers compared with local patient-safety and governance priorities
• Existing controls assessed for prevention, detection and response effectiveness
• Recommended actions assigned owners, due dates, measures and residual-risk review

Participants can test whether observed performance differences support improvement decisions.

• Question framing distinguishes comparison, association, prediction and causal inference
• Hypothesis tests applied to compare two groups or pre-and-post results
• Confidence intervals used to express uncertainty around estimated process performance
• Scatter plots examine relationships between demand, staffing, delays and defects
• Correlation interpreted without claiming causation from observational healthcare data
• Practical significance considered alongside statistical significance and patient impact

Participants can generate improvement ideas that address validated causes and service constraints.

• Countermeasures linked directly to validated causes, failure modes and quality requirements
• Brainstorming rules separate idea generation from evaluation and decision making
• Impact-effort matrices compare expected benefit, complexity, cost and implementation time
• Future-state maps describe revised flow, roles, controls and information needs
• Demand-capacity analysis identifies bottlenecks, queues and feasible staffing responses
• Improvement hypotheses state expected mechanism, measure, target and timeframe

Participants can plan controlled tests of healthcare process changes before wider adoption.

• Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles structured around specific change hypotheses and measures
• Pilot scope limited by location, patient group, shift pattern or pathway stage
• Readiness checks cover staffing, training, equipment, information and approvals
• Balancing measures monitor unintended effects on safety, workload and access
• Pilot data compared against baseline performance and predefined success criteria
• Decision rules define adoption, adaptation, further testing or abandonment

Participants can design process controls that reduce variation and prevent recurring defects.

• Standard work specifies sequence, timing, responsibilities and required information
• Visual management displays status, priorities, queues, escalation triggers and ownership
• Poka-yoke concepts applied to forms, labels, checklists and electronic prompts
• Checklists designed for critical tasks, handoffs and exception management
• Escalation pathways define response actions when process conditions fall outside limits
• Training materials aligned with revised standard work and competency checks

Participants can prepare stakeholders, communications and governance for process change.

• Stakeholder engagement plans address clinical leadership, frontline teams and patient representatives
• Change impact assessments identify altered tasks, roles, systems and workload
• Communication plans specify messages, channels, timing, feedback and accountable owners
• Resistance analysed as information about risks, workload, trust or perceived value
• Governance routes identified for clinical safety, information governance and operational approval
• Implementation milestones linked to pilot evidence, training completion and readiness criteria

Participants can create a control plan that maintains gains after project closure.

• Control plans connect measures, targets, owners, frequency, limits and response actions
• Daily management routines review service status, abnormalities and immediate countermeasures
• Control charts embedded within performance reviews and operational huddles
• Process audits test adherence to standard work and control effectiveness
• Benefit tracking separates cashable savings, released capacity, quality and safety gains
• Handover packs transfer accountability from project team to process owner

Participants can report improvement results credibly to sponsors, teams and governance groups.

• Benefits cases distinguish projected, realised, recurring and non-financial improvements
• Before-and-after evidence presented with baseline, timeframe, variation and limitations
• Dashboard design highlights quality, flow, safety, cost and balancing measures
• Project reports document methods, findings, decisions, risks and outstanding actions
• Sponsor reviews assess progress against charter aims, scope and governance commitments
• Lessons learned captured for replication across comparable services and pathways

Participants can build, review and present a complete DMAIC improvement project pack for a healthcare process.

• Project charter refined with scope, aim, stakeholders, measures and anticipated benefits
• Current-state map and SIPOC reviewed for accurate pathway boundaries and interfaces
• Baseline data displayed through Pareto, run-chart or control-chart evidence
• Root causes supported through process analysis, stratification and failure-mode assessment
• Improvement plan combines countermeasures, pilot design, risks and implementation actions
• Control plan assigns measures, limits, owners, review cadence and response steps