Lean Six Sigma implementation in medical school.

Abstract

426 Background: While medical schools teach advanced medical, surgical, and radiation interventions in oncology, we often don’t teach students how to identify deficits in existing modalities and methodically implement change. Medical students are underexposed to concepts of QI, and many medical educators feel that tools like Lean Six Sigma are too advanced or esoteric for student involvement. A gap exists to create a QI curriculum that invites medical student engagement, while also allowing them to develop self-efficacy to begin a lifelong career of continue process improvement in medicine. Methods: We previously demonstrated that a Value-based Care competition, can serve as a medical school QI curriculum with high levels of student engagement in both local and national competitions. Teams of students collaborate with key stakeholders at their hospital to implement QI projects through the Lean Six Sigma process improvement methodology. This competition is currently completing its third year, and recruiting for the 4th cycle. We performed a multi-year review of student engagement, the degree to which students progressed down the steps of Lean Six Sigma, and the outcomes of QI projects developed through these competitions. Results: For the 2022-23 competition cycle, six medical schools across the country (MCG, UCSD, Florida State University (FSU), Baylor, Penn State, and even internationally at the University of Queensland ran local competitions, representing a 50% growth over the previous cycle (four schools total in 2021-22). Of these schools, four of them are now participating in the National Competition to implement their projects using Lean Six Sigma; representing a 33% growth compared to last year (three schools total in 2021-22). In terms of implementation tools, students have successfully achieved IRB approvals, development of implementations timetables, defining and measuring controls and outcomes, and recruiting patients. Conclusions: Despite being busy with many other components of their medical education, and despite the entirely voluntary nature of the competition, there continues to be a strong appetite amongst medical students to participate in quality improvement. Students have demonstrated their willingness and ability to learn and implement QI projects using Lean Six Sigma. We have also employed a ‘see one, do one, teach one’ model of peer mentorship to create a sustainable multi-year, multi-school, and now multi-national curriculum that continues to grow.