What is Frontline Improvement at Northgate Medical Center?

For work to be fun and engaging for staff, staff need to be able to improve their work processes regularly.  The Frontline Improvement Campaign at Northgate Medical Center supports this kind of culture.  In Frontline Improvement, a small design team with representatives from disciplines across the clinic (eg, doctors, medical assistants, business office, pharmacy) meets weekly to create a testable solution to a vexing problem.  This design team’s solution is then announced to the rest of the clinic the following day, and then the full medical center tests the proposed solution for a week, giving the design team feedback along the way.  A week later, the design team reconvenes, reviews the feedback, and revises the solution, and, if necessary, has the full clinic test the procedure for another week.  This cycle is repeated until we feel we have a procedure that is 50% better than what we had before we started.  It does haven’t to be perfect, just 50% better.

Who is the Frontline Improvement Design Team?

Marty, medical center chief; Pattie, LPN; Carol, pharmacist; Ceci, business office; Jessy, MA; Karla, MA; Kim, physician; Malathi, clinic manager

Share Your Comments!!

If you have an idea for an improvement, or want to share your thoughts, upload a comment.  Our design team is going to be checking this blog regularly and posting our updates.  We want to learn from each other.