Getting Started...

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entire Getting Started Guide

Before getting started on your hospital’s process improvement journey, it is important to ensure that your organization is set-up for success. Making meaningful process improvements that sustain their benefits requires a foundation of specific skills/experience as well as an organizational readiness for change. Click the download icon on the top right to learn how to determine if your organization is ready for change and begin your process improvement journey. The Getting Started Guide will ensure that you are fully equipped with the knowledge required for successful process improvement at your hospital. The Getting Started Guide covers three key topics — feel free to explore these topics individually by clicking on the corresponding links below.

Topics:

Introduction to Lean

Communications

Sustainability

The Toolkit

The Process Improvement Program (PIP) is divided into five sequential phases as illustrated above. Each phase is designed to prepare your hospital team and establish the necessary conditions to execute the subsequent phase and optimize results at the end of the improvement initiative.

The Toolkit is designed to help healthcare providers make significant and lasting improvements in patient access and flow.

While this toolkit was designed to address the patient access and flow challenges Ontario hospitals face across the Emergency Department to Inpatient Unit care continuum, it can be applied to improve operating performance at most healthcare organizations.

This Toolkit…

Contains the methodology, framework and tools used in the Emergency Department Process Improvement Program (ED PIP);
Is a guide rather than an absolute roadmap of what must be done;
Provides about 20% of what is needed to deliver success... the balance comes from the thinking and practical application.

Note: The toolkit is provided as a collection of pdf files. PDF reader, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, has to be installed to read these files.

Toolkit Components:

	The purpose of the “Overview” component is to orient you to the PIP phase.
	The purpose of the “Workplan” component is to provide context of timing and the anticipated outcomes for the phase. There may be one or several sample workplans that will help you tailor your hospital's process improvement project.
	The purpose of the “Tools” component is to introduce you to tools that will help you achieve the objectives of the phase. You will learn what the tool is, the objectives of using the tool, the benefits it can bring, the appropriate time to use the tool and the anticipated outcomes. It may not be necessary to apply all the tools. You will need to use judgment as to which tools are most appropriate for the situation.
	The purpose of the “Guidelines” component is to provide a more detailed “how-to” guide to applying PIP's specific tools and concepts.
	The purpose of the “Checklist” component is to confirm that each of the major activities has been completed and that you are ready to transition to the next PIP phase.