The Gemba Walk 8 The Gemba Walk Debra Sa
The Gemba walk is an essential aspect of continuous and quality improvement in an organization. It involves a manager of the organization going to places where the real work happens to observe how work gets done, ask questions he/she may have, and learn from them (Gesinger, 2016). The Gemba helps the manager understand the events that take place in an organization and understand how to get the employees involved in improving the performance of the organization. The manager can identify potential opportunities, wastes, and ask questions with the best interest of the customers or clients of the organization. The Gemba walk is also essential in assessing the safety of the organization for the employees and customers as well, and in the process, identify the safety hazards that may be present in the organization.
The organization in this paper is a healthcare facility. The employees in the organization include nurses, physicians, and laboratory technicians, among other personnel. The healthcare facility provides a wide range of healthcare services, some of which include surgical procedures, administration of drugs routinely, routine checkups and blood tests, MRI scans, among other medical procedures that are common in hospitals. My Gemba observations included the fact that some departments had more than one individual with the same set of skills working on the same case. This appeared to me as a waste of resources as the individuals could be distributed to work on other cases of the same nature to minimize wastage and improve efficiency (Mann, 2017).
Another observation I made was that I noticed some nurses were not using the protective gear efficiently when handling patients. This could lead to the development of further infections, which poses a risk to the health of the patient. The sanitation of the hospital was not up to the required standard endangering the safety of patients. Also, I observed that there was an ongoing conflict between some employees who were supposed to be working together, pushing them to work individually when the particular project was supposed to be done in a group. This acted as a barrier to achieving the developmental goals of the organization, which could lead to poor performance in the organization.
I also observed several opportunities from the ideas some of the employees had on how to improve the quality of healthcare provision in the organization. The goal of the Gemba was to assess the activities of the organization in terms of how the employees carry out their speculated duties and how they relate with their patients. It was aimed at understanding what the employees think and the possible suggestions they
may have on initiatives that could improve the quality of services provided at the healthcare facilities. I wanted to assess the safety of the employees and establish whether there were any wastes in terms of production and skill. In observing how my team works, I wanted to understand what is needed to improve productivity in the organization.
Understanding the experiences of the healthcare providers in the delivery of healthcare to the patients was essential in figuring out ways to improve the organization with suggestions from the people who do the work on the ground. During the Gemba, I observed several opportunities. One, to manage the waste which in this case included several physicians with the same set of skills working on the same case when the other patients with the same case were in line waiting, I saw an opportunity to reduce waiting time for the patients by setting up another office for one other physician so that we can reduce time wastage and have the patients see the physician within the shortest possible waiting thus improving the quality of service delivery.
Another opportunity I saw was from the division that existed between healthcare providers who were supposed to be working together on a quality improvement project, and I saw an opportunity to establish a proper conflict resolution platform in which conflicts get solved as soon as possible to ensure that teamwork gets promoted and delivery of healthcare gets improved. In other words, I saw an opportunity to unite the employees through proper conflict resolution channels for efficient and quality service delivery in the healthcare organization and satisfactory care to the patients. To decrease inefficiencies, I observed that I would need to take regular Gemba walks to follow up on how the employees are carrying out their stipulated duties as expected and, after which, address the issues identified accordingly.
To reduce waste, I will ensure that there is a division of labor and that every employee has a duty to carry out within their work hours to minimize idleness. To improve a product, in this case, to improve the quality of healthcare, the opportunity I saw is to listen to the suggestions made by employees, deliberate on them, and follow up on their institution if agreed upon as possible improvement initiatives that are quality.
The key take away from the Gemba walk of the healthcare organization includes the importance of one on one interactions with employees, workplace conflict resolution and its importance, waste management, occupational safety and safety hazards, quality improvement initiatives and employer-employee positive interaction.
The individuals I spoke with during my Gemba walk include the heads of departments, for instance the
head surgeon, who is in charge of directing surgical procedures as well as carrying out the complex ones, who explained to me what goes on in his department in terms of procedures. He further explained to me the problems his department faces in terms of occupational safety as well as the availability of waste. He explained that his department was overcrowded with several surgeons working on the same cases. He suggested another surgical department be opened to minimize congestion and reduce waste as there is sufficient skillset available to manage an extra department and reduce the congestion and time consumed by patients waiting in line for their turn for procedures.
Another individual I spoke with was the head of the nursing department, who is in charge of managing the operations of nurses and ensuring that they carry out their duties effectively, who expressed his concerns on the occupational safety of nurses and the risk of such to the welfare of patients. He suggested that nurses need to be provided with training on how to maintain safety at the workplace by learning how to use the safety gear properly. Also, I spoke to the patients who expressed their concerns about certain aspects of healthcare delivery in the organization by stating areas where the service was satisfactory and areas where it was not. Some of the patients gave their opinions as to how the healthcare delivery should be carried out giving me an opportunity, as the administrator, to think about their opinions and consult the board of directors to establish the possible ways to meet the needs of the patients as well as the needs of the employees.
Generally, the Gemba walk provides ways to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in the organization by meeting the individual needs of both the employees and the patients. Patients are an essential part of the healthcare facility as they are the ones responsible for building or destroying the reputation of the hospital from the reviews they give. Therefore, their opinion as to whether the services offered by the hospital are satisfactory or not should be taken seriously by the hospital administration. Their opinions should be considered to ensure that the services provided to them are satisfactory. Apart from the observations I made, there are several lessons I learned from the individuals who work in the healthcare facility.
First, I learned that the success of an organization is highly dependent on how satisfied and comfortable the employees are. There is a higher chance of success if the employees feel safe in the work environment.
Also, the patients have to be satisfied with the quality of services being offered so that they can present good reviews to the public. Second, I learned that when managers interact face to face with employees, trust gets built, which encourages the development of innovative ideas as they will trust their managers to consider their ideas. Interaction is a show of interest in the welfare of the employees, and as such, there is
open communication among them, providing a platform for the presentation of ideas and suggestions for quality improvement initiatives.
Lastly, the lesson I learned was that conflict among employees reduces performance. My interview/evaluation sheet will be composed of the names and position the interviewees to hold in the organization, the ratings as to how the physicians, nurses and patients think of the quality of healthcare provision in the organization in terms of whether it is satisfactory and whether the working environment is satisfactory for the employees. Another aspect will be as to whether the individuals I interviewed think the healthcare facility has safety measures that are sufficient to protect the employees as well as patients from possible infection-causing germs. The evaluation form will also entail an evaluation as to how the people I interviewed to rate the rate of waste in terms of personnel in healthcare provision as well as in other sectors of the organization.
Apart from those ratings, it will also include questions as to whether the people I interviewed would recommend someone to seek employment in the organization in the case of the employees, and for the patients, whether they would recommend someone to seek medical treatment in the healthcare organization. The two short-term executable project ideas for the organization that I got from interacting with the employees include training of nurses on how to apply safety measures in the appropriate way and educating the employees on workplace conflict management measures. The long term executable ideas include establishing another surgical department to manage waste and improve performance, enhancing patient satisfaction, and improve patient outcomes.
Another long term executable idea would be setting up goals to improve the quality of care by putting the interests of patients first. For instance, upgrading the equipment for use in treatment and observation of certain medical conditions could build trust in the patients as their welfare will be taken care of. My employer is responding to my project by appreciating the fact that I took the time to walk through the various activities going on in the organization and establishing areas that need attention. As such, the organization was able to figure the quality improvement initiatives that are essential in ensuring the success of the organization as well as improving the relations between employers and employees, employees and patients as well as the relationship between the manager and the employees.
This paved the way for self-expression, presenting the various problems, ideas, and solutions that the people in the organization initially kept to themselves. References Gesinger, S. (2016). Experiential
learning: using Gemba walks to connect with employees. Professional Safety, 61(02), 33-36. Mann, D. (2017). Creating a lean culture: tools to sustain lean conversions. Productivity Press.