Statistical analysis of the researches carried out on Lean and Six Sigma applications in healthcare industry

Abstract

The Lean and Six Sigma are two complementary methodologies in the sense that Lean focuses on reducing waste and increasing speed; whereas Six Sigma focuses on reducing variations and increasing consistency. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of Lean and Six Sigma applications in the healthcare sector. The work done by many researchers in healthcare industry is discussed. Literature survey shows that most of the studies (42%) are focused on reducing processing time. It is also found that number of studies focused on reducing processing time never goes out of phase. The Pareto chart analysis was performed for number of studies in various countries and different departments. It is found that more than 50% of studies were carried out in the USA only and 22% of the studies were performed in emergency department in various countries. The matrix plots are shown for number of studies in different countries and different departments throughout the time line starting from the year 2000 to till date. It is also found that Lean and Six Sigma methodologies were uniformly applied in emergency and surgery departments, whereas in case of countries; only the USA shows continuous applications of Lean and Six Sigma techniques.