Efficient processes

Taking a waste walk with your team is a good way to get started on performance improvement.

The first step is to educate your team about the different kinds of waste, using the "8 Types of Waste" tool.

Then follow the step-by-step instructions to complete a walk. Finish by targeting elements of your workflow or workspace that can be streamlined.

• Reconfiguring routes and bringing contracted routes in house
• Hiring an additional employee to reduce overtime and outside courier costs on the weekends
• Purchasing new technology for central dispatching that enables better tracking of packages

What can your team do to evaluate where savings can be found? What else could your team do to be more productive and not have to use contractors?

• Tracking individual items sold monthly  
• Comparing previous distribution of items and loss of revenue  
• Inputting data into Excel spreadsheet to see projected results 

What can your team do to ensure Kaiser Permanente continues to be affordable for all members? 

• Logging each redo in a tracking book
• Creating a unit “redo monitor” and a lead optician position, to troubleshoot service gaps and help team members close those gaps
• Coaching employees on new protocols in HealthConnect to identify possible factors contributing to lens problems, on collaborating with optometry and ophthalmology in problem solving, and on counseling patients about eye health as well as manufacturing warranty limits 

What can your team do to identify potential problems in your workflow?

• Reviewing the department's budget together
• Researching the costs and benefits of different types of needles
• Self-monitoring to reduce usage of butterfly needles

What can your team do to identify areas or products where savings can be found? What else could your team do to cut expenses?

• Brainstorming ways to encourage use of email system, including instructing and coaching one another on the system
• Diversifying its communication methods, including the creation of a communication board with information about the projects the team is working on, notes from UBT meetings and a copy of the department’s weekly e-newsletter, “Heads Up”
• Changing from a representative UBT to a general membership UBT with regularly scheduled meetings throughout the region, so that all employees are able to participate​​

What can your team do to g

• Starting with a truly small test of change: one shift on one day
• Creating a flow sheet to see how long it took for doctors’ orders on walking with patients to be met
• Standardizing a mobility protocol for all patients

What can your team do with a small test of change? What else could your team do to make Kaiser Permanente the best place to work and receive care?

• Involving nurses, physicians and materials management in the project from the beginning
• Mobilizing all UBT members to use stickers to indicate which supplies they use—and which they could live without
• Managing resistance to change

What can your team do to engage everyone in performance improvement efforts? What else could your team do to encourage feedback and help individuals manage change?