Team members from the Emergency Department (ED), Lab, Safety & Security, Registration, Outpatient, and Inpatient joined between June 5 and June 9 for a Rapid Performance Improvement Workshop (RPIW) on focused on Customer Satisfaction within the Emergency Department. A RPIW is an intensive event where cross-functional teams collaborate to improve. This event increases collaboration by strengthening relationships between departments.

The team looked at the entire patient visit process from arrival at the ED to discharge and identified improvement opportunities for patient satisfaction. The week began with mapping out the process to identify where there is the most opportunity to improve. Based on this information and gathered data, the team brainstormed ideas for change and developed and tested them throughout the week.

The team looked at the triage process, the flow of patients between the main ED and Fast Track, the admissions process to Inpatient, their supply carts, and how specimens are transported from the ED to Lab. The ideas for change will continue to be tested over the next 90 days to monitor for success. The team will share their story at the next Aspiaq in August; stay tuned for more information!

. This RPIW was a part of the 2023 contract with Virginia Mason Institute, and a coach from VMI joined us in Bethel to support the facilitation of the event’s activities. Miranda Robb, our Lean Transformation Director, acted as the Workshop Leader, and Rebecca Sanders, our Diagnostic Imaging Director, was the Team Leader.  Later in 2023, YKHC will continue collaborating with VMI on more improvement projects.

These events are part of the building of YKHC’s Angyaq Quality System. A system of tools and competencies to ensure continuous improvement of the safety and quality of our services, ensuring we work together to achieve excellent health.

Would you like to learn more about Lean, our Angyaq Quality System, and improvement work? Contact Miranda_Robb@ykhc.org.

At this RPIW, the teams collaborated to outline the current value stream and identify opportunities to eliminate waste with the goal of improving patient satisfaction.