Source: United States Navy (Medical)
Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) held its annual Continuous Process Improvement Fair in the command courtyard where dozens of projects were on display, demonstrating a commitment to excellence, 11 April.
“Continuous improvement is a tenant of high reliability. Identifying challenges and exploring solutions happens at all levels and I’m proud of our staff for making the investment to formally capture these efforts,” said Cmdr. John Ewing, NMCSD chief Medical Officer and director Quality Management.
Winners were announced in five categories:
Lean Six Sigma Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (LSS_DMAIC)
Comprehensive Unit Safety Program & Evidence Based Practice (CUSP & EBP)
Plan Do Check Act (PDCA)
Just Do It (JDI)
People’s Choice
In total, there were 46 entries, resulting in the following winners:
Just Do It — NTC Centralized Medical Readiness Center
PDCA — Seconds Matter: Trauma Teams Race Against the Clock
CUSP/EBP — NTC Physical Therapy Appointment Efficiency
Lean Six Sigma — Improving Efficiency in Recruit Medical Processing
People’s Choice — Suture Skills: The Superpower in the Navy’s Utility Belt, Stitching Together Success One Seam at a Time!
The winning Lean Six Sigma entry from Naval Health Branch Clinic (NHBC), Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD), San Diego, consisted of seeking efficiencies in recruit medical processing.
“Our Marine recruits must complete a comprehensive medical processing component upon arriving at boot camp. With the processing of hundreds of recruits, we believed that greater efficiency was still possible,” said Lt. Noah Dietsche, NHBC, MCRD, Recruit Processing division officer.
By most accounts, the medical processing of recruits that results in a steady stream of healthy minted U.S. Marines is most efficient. Yet, the team was able to achieve further efficiencies.
“We were ultimately able to reduce recruit platoon medical processing time, which afforded the recruits additional training time in other essential activities,” explained Dietsche. “Even a handful of hours is significant savings for a training regimen that has every minute accounted for.”
As this year’s competition comes to a close, many are already looking at next year’s competition.
“The best part about the CPI process is that it is continuous. We wrapped up this year’s competition, but I know that there are opportunities to further develop some of these projects and there are new initiatives as well. This is the culture of excellence that we adopt at NMCSD,” explained Ewing.
NMCSD continuously seeks professional civilian talent, not just limited to health care providers and administrative support. For anyone seeking a federal job, visit USAJobs at usajobs.gov – the Federal Government’s official employment site.
The mission of NMCSD is to prepare service members to deploy in support of operational forces, deliver high quality health care services, and shape the future of military medicine through education, training, and research. NMCSD employs more than 5,000 active-duty military personnel, civilians and contractors in southern California to provide patients with world-class care. Anchored in Excellence, Committed to Health!
Story originally posted on DVIDS: Continuous Process Improvement Fair demonstrates commitment to excellence at NMCSD
