Christian in Middle East
Press Release
Christian Wolcott presented at the International Patient Flow Management Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in early December.
The event was chaired by Dr. Samer Ellaham a Cardiologist with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and co- chaired by Dr. Ahmed Elsheikh Director of Quality and Patient Safety, Security Forces Hospital Makkah. Dr. Elsheikh invited Wolcott after meeting him during a Lean Healthcare Tour in Japan which Wolcott led in 2014.
The three-day conference focus was how healthcare providers can improve patient care experience by adopting innovative systems, improved procedures to effectively provide needed resources, minimize delays and ultimately improve quality of services as patients move through various stages of care.
Mr. Wolcott’s presentation, entitled “Move” was designed for administration and healthcare providers alike to look to the power of continuous improvement, specifically kaizen and lean as methods to improve all areas of healthcare provision. “The conference included many administrative professionals that represent both patient facing and equally important, non-facing service elements, which from a practitioner viewpoint is exciting” says Wolcott. “There are so many opportunities for process improvement behind the scenes in healthcare”.
Move opened by challenging status quo that many beautifully decorated healthcare facility waiting rooms are camouflage for poor process, with inventory of patients because of delays and inconsistencies. Wolcott said, “The central challenge of the frequency of continuous improvement by both projects and daily improvement was also highlighted by asking participants how much time is spent working “in the system” versus “on the system”. Senior management has the responsibility and accountability for setting priority and good examples of a healthy diet of CI for the business, learning, improving performance and helping support sustainable gains.
Next, Wolcott’s presentation touched on a variety of value stream issues common with healthcare- but from other business sectors, such as new product development, injury claims, orders for tests, orders for materials, hiring employees, project management and others highlighting non-healthcare examples from Wolcott’s vast client history. Lively discussion interlaced with question and answer filled the two-hour presentation in the closed-door forum.
Planning for the next Patient flow Management Congress to be held in UAE has already started and Wolcott says he’s delighted to be asked to present again in 2019.
Christian Wolcott served as a Senior Lean Consultant and Director of Japan Insight Tours for Kaizen Institute before starting private practice in 2020.