The medication process – a design for Six Sigma

Journal article, 2012

This paper studies the application of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS)in the medication process at Skaraborg Hospital, Sweden. The study concluded that DFSS was beneficial in designing the medication process in the sense that; it generated concrete operational improvements, but also led to the establishment of a process organisation that was responsible for continuous development of the process. A further benefit was a greater understanding of the complexity of several customer groups with variation between and within groups. However, the challenges in applying DFSS in a healthcare setting included assessing implicit patient needs and the need for organisational maturity in order to support the DFSS project and handle project results.