1. Summary: Lee Revere writes in Journal of Healthcare Management that hospitals are using the Six Sigma method to ensure that medication errors in hospitals are reduced or eliminated. According to one study, at least 7,000 deaths a year result from medication errors in U.S. hospitals. Revere suggests that hospitals are excellent candidates for the Six Sigma method because of their need and desire to reduce errors. Also, in a litigious society such as the United States, the fewer mistakes hospitals make the less hospitals will spend for malpractice insurance and on settling claims with injured patients.
Revere explains that to achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, and a defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications. The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects. Six Sigma is often used as part of a hospital's Total Quality Management (TQM) program. Revere adds that in traditional TQM programs problems are measured and studied before changes are made. A Six Sigma program requires that a problem be addressed as soon as it has been identified. The goal of Six Sigma is not to gather and evaluate data. Instead, data gathered is the basis for action. Revere describes the impact the Six Sigma program has on the profit hospitals named in the article.
2. The statistics discussed in the article relate to the goal of reducing errors. The methodology involved designing, improving and monitoring a specific activity to minimize or eliminate waste or, in the case of dispensing medication, errors. Previous quality control programs assumed that a process was generating quality results if 99.74% of the time the process was within specifications. In a hospital, this would r...