Case study: Using lean principles, how Charleston Area Medical Center ED reduced wait time by 95 percent

Session
Emergency Services

Authors
Mark Smith
Lean Master
Breakthrough Management Group

Steve Cunningham, MBA
Six Sigma Black Belt
Charleston Area Medical Center

Abstract
Reducing wait time and delays are critical to improving all aspects of care and patient satisfaction in Emergency Departments. Unnecessary delays contribute to frustrated and unhappy patients and increased cost from waste and rework. There are successful strategies to reduce operational cycle times and improve patient flow. This presentation will focus on how Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC), West Virginia's largest medical center and Level 1 Trauma Center successfully used lean kaizen principles and simulations to work through a fragmented process and ultimately reduce ED wait time by 95 percent.

Presented by Steve Cunningham, one of CAMCs lean project black belts and Mark Smith, lean master at Breakthrough Management Group,

You will learn from how a three-day on-site lean project and simulation allowed CAMC staff to achieve their goal to improve the ED process from the time a patient presents to the ED until their care processes are started, (i.e., patient triaged, assessed, initial orders placed, labs drawn).

Cunningham and Smith will demonstrate to attendees how working through simulation exercises specific to lean concepts, CAMC participants were able to experience real-time, how processes interact and how their implementation was able to positively affect and reduce lead time to initiate care, decrease the overall ED length of stay, improve the efficiency and care level of staff members and improve patient satisfaction and market share.