Foundation hosts “Six Sigma” Yellow Belt Class

The DFW Hospital Council (DFWHC) Foundation hosted a “Six Sigma” Yellow Belt Class, November 10-11 at the training rooms of Arlington School District. Patti Taylor of the DFWHC Foundation’s Patient Safety and Quality Committee served as official host to 31 attendees from North Texas hospitals.

Attendees were made up of nurses, quality directors and pharmacists. Eight teams were formed prior to the workshop with an emphasis on Hospital Engagement Network projects focused on improving patient care.

Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It was introduced by engineer Bill Smith while working at Motorola in 1986. Jack Welch made it central to his business strategy at General Electric in 1995. Today, it is used in many industrial sectors including healthcare.

Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of a process by identifying and removing defects and minimizing variability in business processes. It uses a set of quality management and statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in the methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has specific targets involving reduced process cycle time, reduced pollution, reduced costs, increased customer satisfaction and increased profits.

Six Sigma’s Yellow Belt certification is a two-day program that provides insight into the techniques of these metrics and improvement methodologies. The training provides an introduction to process management, enabling individuals to achieve objectives. Participants gather data and participate in problem solving exercises.

Official yellow belts are expected to be awarded to participants in December.

Texoma Medical Center

Texas Health Huguley Hospital

Problem solving