As YKHC continues the journey on Our River to Excellence and High Reliability, we have been contracting with Virginia Mason Institute, a Lean implementation and training leader, to educate and empower our staff using Lean tools. As part of this contract, we are doing two improvement events. The first is within the Human Resource Recruiting team’s hiring process, and the second will focus on the Care Continuum area in Outpatient Services. The planning for these improvement events has already started. The Recruiting event is scheduled from October 31 through November 4. A coach and Workshop Leader from Virginia Mason Institute will lead the improvement activities on-site.

During this improvement event, called a “Kaizen,” a team of individuals will gather to learn about Lean tools and brainstorm implementation ideas to improve our hiring and recruiting practices. This team is a blend of HR staff, hiring managers, stakeholders in the process, and the Lean department. The process for our hiring and recruiting practices will be mapped out so we can identify waste to eliminate. After the week, a refreshed and improved process will be implemented and tested. The success of the changes will be measured and assessed, following the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle accordingly.

This Kaizen event ties in with our tactic to Improve Recruitment and Staffing Processes under the Corporate Capability and Culture Napartet Strategy Pillar. The tactic was identified as a goal to recruit and retain staff to reduce turnover. On the whole, retaining staff reduces errors and improves the continuity of care and patient outcomes. In YKHC’s journey toward high reliability, we empower employees to participate in improvements that will help us achieve high levels of efficiency, quality, and patient safety. This event aims to improve the quality of our services through staff retention, ultimately improving the patient experience. This all contributes towards YKHC’s mission of Working Together to Achieve Excellent Health.

If you have questions about this improvement Kaizen event, contact Miranda_Robb@ykhc.org or call ext. 6483.