Improvement of Phlebotomy and Specimen Collection Process In Clinical Laboratory of Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute Using Lean Six Sigma Methods

Abstract

     The risk of Phlebotomy and Specimen Collection Process has been affected the performance and service quality of laboratory including turnaround time and satisfactory of services.
     This study aims to apply the concept of Lean and the Six Sigma method which based on the Define Measure Analyze Improve Control (DMAIC). The procedure guidelines of blood collection and specimen registration in Clinical Laboratory of Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute were revised and assessed using DMAIC to determine the root cause and risk factors of defects. The nonconformance of Blood Specimen and Specimen Registration procedures were found by nonconformance evidence, specimen rejection, and risk factor records during 1 January to 31 December 2017 (1 year). The mean of six sigma values of Blood collection and Specimen registration procedures were 4.27 and 4.19, respectively. After using lean six sigma tool was implemented, the results found that the performance of blood collection and specimen registration increased mean of six sigma values as 5.16 and 5.21, respectively. The customer satisfaction of laboratory services, responded by outpatients was significantly increased (p < 0.05) improved. Furthermore, the turnaround time of laboratory services was significantly reduced from 76.4 to 23.2 minutes were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). The Blood and Specimen Collection have found a problem, which is a problem to the quality of the laboratory's standard, and also affects the quality of the analysis and the waiting time for blood collection.
      In conclusion, Results also show that all staff were understanding and satisfy the process and no complaints from the patients.