ABSTRACT

Barnes-Jewish Hospital is a large urban teaching hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. (9,438 employees, 1,845 physicians, 803 residentsjinternsjfellows, 1,111 staffed beds, 83,997 Emergency Room visits and 54,733 admissions in 2009). Barnes-Jewish Hospital is part ofBJC HealthCare and is affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine. Over the past year, Barnes-Jewish Hospital has worked to combine the power of Six Sigma and Lean principles and tools to reduce

Over two years ago, Barnes-Jewish Hospital began a Lean Six Sigma transformation journey as a supplement its successful performance improvement structure under their Patient Safety and Quality Department. This effort was driven directly from the top: both the President and Chief Operating Officer endorsed and sponsored the initiative. Physician engagement is encouraged by the Chief Medical Officer. The overall objective of the journey is for Bames-Jewish Hospital to usc Lean and Six Sigma principles to reduce defects and process variability while improving efficiency and quality of care delivery and support processes.