From Pittsburgh to Johannesburg
“The three purposes of thinking: To solve problems, To create opportunities and To enrich the human condition.” - Abraham Lincoln
I recently had the opportunity to visit the wonderful country of South Africa and found that it does not matter whether you are in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Johannesburg or for that matter, any part of this great big world, the issues and problems in the Histology laboratory are the same - more work, less people and a directive to do it cheaper and faster while always improving the quality! The struggles to improve the Histology processes are common, but most often they stay in the Histology lab. Why is that?
What did suprise me was the fact that a Laboratory Manager, halfway around the world, approached and solved similar problems using the same techniques and instruments as I did four years ago. As I listened to a presentation about his successes and his difficulties, I realized his process has stalled at the same roadblock that has probably hampered many attempts to develop a new workflow - scheduling. To affect real change in the Histology lab, we must look at all aspects of the process and develop a workflow that addreses the voice of the customer (VOC) and in this case, the customer must be part of a simple equation; surgeon/clinician=patient=Pathologist=employee=company. How can we answer the customer’s needs with the resources we have?
You tell me how we can increase efficiency, reduce errors and increase quality and not appreciably change the turnaround time (TAT) without rethinking the work schedule of all affected parties in Histology. Delivering slides the next morning in large batches can no longer be acceptable. We can do better than that for the customer, but it will take real teamwork and a willingness to change.
What do you think it will take to create the new lean and mean Histology lab?
Tags: Process Improvement