Comments on Lean Blog: Press "1" If You're Hurting in English...

I still don't buy it, that technology is the solut...

2007-08-11T07:33:00.000-05:00

I still don't buy it, that technology is the solution to emergency room queues. I hear too many stories of ER's *eliminating* the wait through process and flow improvement. Making significant process changes to how triage is done can eliminate the need for technology such as this.

To your point about "we have to understand the problem," the problem is long waiting time. Prioritizing queues or tracking queues might prevent long outlier times, but it doesn't get to the root causes of WHY the patients have to wait.

I'm sorry, but being in the "business of queueing" is just like someone being in the business of warehouse automation in the manufacturing world. Automating a problem is not a true solution to me. It's what non-creative people do, they throw money at technology that will solve their problem. Even if it works, it's an expensive approach.

I show this as caring, not in the sense of them be...

2007-08-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

I show this as caring, not in the sense of them being able to determine my illness, but in the fact that they know they have a problem, only that they don't know where to find it. I did some research before responding. Q-MATIC Corporation is the provider of the solution I discussed earlier. They have been in business of queuing since the 1980's.

The solution is more than "take-a-number". It provides reports showing wait times, customer, or patient, counts, and can even prioritize a customer based on a service that is being rendered. You can state all day long that there is a problem and no one will argue with you. You can't fix a problem until you know where it is.

I think the hospital's approach by adding this technology is a step in the right direction. They see there is a problem. They want to fix it. Now, with this technology, they can start to applying fixes to the astronomical wait times.

Thanks for your comment."The technology is out the...

2007-07-13T09:11:00.000-05:00

Thanks for your comment.

"The technology is out there. Why not use it?"

That's not the "lean thinking" approach. Toyota is not afraid of technology, but they don't jump in to use it just because it's there. If the system was put in place because "waiting times are too long," the Lean approach would push you to ask "why" the waiting times are so long. Maybe there are some "root causes" that can be fixed to avoid the need for the technology AND reduce waiting times.

There is cost to installing and maintaining technology.

But, it also concerns me that a kiosk can't make any medical assessment of a patient's condition. This is different than checking in at a bank or something.

I'm curious to hear more about your experiences with the system and how it was perceived as "caring."

I recently visited a hospital that had a qmatic (I...

2007-07-13T08:59:00.000-05:00

I recently visited a hospital that had a qmatic (I think that is how it is spelled) system installed. Before the hospital was unorganized and I didn't think the service was good. This time I went in and I felt like they actually cared about me not waiting a long time. It may not be the human touch, but lets face it. Times have changed. There are more people in the country than ever before and there is no sign of that stopping. The technology is out there. Why not use it?