RGH Video Blog – The Six Sigma Role of Donors
Hello and welcome to the Global Health Video Class. My name is Dr. Elvira Beracochea and I am the president and CEO of Realizing Global Health. You can find us at http://www.realizingglobalhealth.com. We are a global health consultant company working to create self-reliant, sustainable health systems. Today, I am going to continue talking about the role of Six Sigma in Global Health.
Six Sigma is an approach I have adapted to global health to make sure we accelerate improvement and to make sure that health systems work better. Six Sigma in global health is based on three principles:
- It is epidemiology-based. It is based on data and disease patterns of the communities that we are working in.
- It is patient-centered. The health services that we deliver is the package of health services that really meet the need of every patient.
- It is evidence-based. It is based on the most recent and most up-to-date information in medical care, nursing care, disease-prevention, etc. that allows us to really improve and impact the health of the population.
So, how do we do that? Say for instance you are working in a government and you want to fund a program. You would apply Six Sigma by using these three principles and the tools that we have created to do that to make sure that you create a way to cover a certain population. As I’ve said, this is epidemiology-based, so there has to be a denominator, there has to be a coverage population. That allows you to be accountable for the results of that population.
Then, we have a score card that allows you, day-by-day, to know how well you are doing. So, the staff in every clinic get feedback every day and they know exactly how they are doing and where they need to improve. They take those little steps that, when you add them up, create a big impact. It is not about making big changes, it is about creating little shifts, little changes, that allow you to continuously improve how health services are being delivered.
The other thing that we do is to improve the standard operating procedures, so that how patients are being treated really meets the standards that we know are what determines quality healthcare in any country. According to international standards, we need to make sure that we are delivering the best quality of healthcare that is attainable at this time. We know we can prevent most of the diseases that affect human kind, so now is the time to make sure that we do – and to really deliver on that. That is what Six Sigma allows us to do – it is a simple but powerful approach. If you apply it consistently you will see tremendous results.
So I suggest that you think about Six Sigma. Think about reducing the number of errors and variation you see between how one patient is treated when compared to another. Reduce these errors to less than 3.4 per 1 Million opportunities. That is the standard you need to achieve in global health.
Next time, we will talk more about Six Sigma and how you can apply it. Also, how you can become part of this movement that is going to change global health forever. So thanks for watching, stay tuned and I will see you next time!
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