Meet our newest Lean Champions
Congratulations to the 11 Lean Quality Improvement Champions who recently completed the intensive 7-week educational program. As part of the program, each of the champions successfully led teams through a Rapid Process Improvement Workshop (RPIW) that resulted in significant improvements across the community of care.
These champions join the 12 people who completed the inaugural education session in February, and represent a mix of staff from various levels of the organization and various areas of the community of care. Due to the focus on Accreditation this fall, the next education session has not yet been scheduled. Staff will be informed once the schedule is confirmed and the program is open to applications.
The Lean QI Champions experienced many challenges and successes on their journey through the program. The classroom time, in itself, can present a huge challenge as participants work with their sponsors to free up enough time to participate in the program. Then there’s all the homework, extra reading and coordination for the Rapid Process Improvement Workshops (RPIWs). Each of the participants put forward an incredible amount of initiative and passion to complete the program and they are committed to seeing their RPIWs through to ensure the improvement initiatives are supported and sustained. They also could not say enough good things about the hard work and dedication that was put forward by their RPIW working group members, and recognize that the success of these initiatives rests with the input of their teams.
Hightlights of a few of the RPIWs that were completed as part of the recent education session include:
- 2 hand hygiene projects were completed and, after 30 days, both areas are experiencing an increase of approximately 10-25% in hand hygiene compliance;
- the Endoscopy Suite has successfully developed and implemented Standard Operating Procedures for safe scope handling and suite turnaround – reducing errors and frustration.
- a Constant Care team found that there was no clear process for evaluating the need for constant care so they developed standards and a framework for assessing and reassessing patients needs for constant care.
About the Richmond Lean QI Champion Program
The Richmond Lean QI Champion Program is a hybrid of the Leading Lean Projects program that is currently taught throughout VCH. This program was adapted for RH with the goal of creating Lean Champions who could successfully lead, facilitate and coach multi-disciplinary teams through process improvement initiatives in an effort to create a sustainable culture of continuous improvement within the Community of Care.
Once the champions complete the in-house education program, they apply for Greenbelt Certification with our accredited partner, Leading Edge. Sixteen of the Champions are currently registered in the Greenbelt program. Of these, four have completed the program and successfully obtained their Greenbelt Certification! Congratulations and good luck to those who are still pursuing their Lean Greenbelt Journey.