Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Lean Six Sigma (LSS) may help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 within health care environments. The goals of this study were to understand the current knowledge of LSS and COVID-19 through a systematic review of the current literature, identify the gap in the current knowledge of LSS in COVID-19 mitigation within health care environments and define the principles of LSS, within organizational resilience that support a health care organization’s ability to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.

Design/methodology/approach

A narrative literature review was conducted to identify relevant research. A total of 21 subject matter experts (SMEs) meeting the inclusion criteria were approached through a guided interview process. Content analysis was conducted to describe how LSS principles contribute to supporting health care organizations operating in the era of COVID-19.

Findings

Study results report that personal safety is the primary subject, followed by supporting dimensions of process redesign, and telemedicine. LSS topics that directly relate to COVID-19 are in four thematic areas: tools, applications, benefits and challenges. Particular areas of application, techniques, challenges and benefits are identified and discussed that could be applied proactively and reactively, to organizational and supply chain resilience to recover from COVID-19.

Research limitations/implications

There were a number of limitations to the generalizability of this work. The sample size was small and purposeful, thus, external validity of the study results are not determined. The SMEs in this study have not implemented the practices noted in the results at the time of the study, and knowledge of results is limited to the study aims.

Originality/value

This study of LSS principles and COVID-19 has implications for practitioners and offers specific guidance for areas of health care adoption of LSS techniques and tools that benefit patient safety, challenges for the user to be mindful of and potential benefits in resilience of operations in the era of COVID-19.

中文翻译：

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精益六西格码作为 COVID-19 时代医疗保健中的组织弹性机制

目的

本研究的目的是调查精益六西格码 (LSS) 如何帮助减轻 COVID-19 在医疗保健环境中的影响。本研究的目标是通过对当前文献的系统回顾来了解 LSS 和 COVID-19 的当前知识，确定当前 LSS 在卫生保健环境中缓解 COVID-19 方面的知识差距，并定义 LSS 的原则，在支持医疗保健组织减轻 COVID-19 影响的能力的组织弹性范围内。

设计/方法/方法

进行了叙述性文献回顾以确定相关研究。通过引导式访谈过程，共接触了 21 名符合纳入标准的主题专家 (SME)。进行了内容分析以描述 LSS 原则如何有助于支持在 COVID-19 时代运营的医疗保健组织。

发现

研究结果报告称，人身安全是首要主题，其次是流程重新设计的支持维度和远程医疗。与 COVID-19 直接相关的 LSS 主题分为四个主题领域：工具、应用、优势和挑战。确定并讨论了特定的应用领域、技术、挑战和好处，这些领域可以主动和被动地应用于组织和供应链从 COVID-19 中恢复的弹性。

研究限制/影响

这项工作的普遍性存在许多限制。样本量小且有目的性，因此无法确定研究结果的外部有效性。本研究中的中小企业在研究时尚未实施结果中指出的做法，对结果的了解仅限于研究目的。

原创性/价值

这项关于 LSS 原则和 COVID-19 的研究对从业者有影响，并为医疗保健领域采用 LSS 技术和工具提供了具体指导，这些技术和工具有利于患者安全、用户需要注意的挑战以及在操作弹性方面的潜在好处COVID-19 时代。