Udayai and Kumar, IJPSR, 2012; Vol. 3(11): 4528-4532 ISSN: 0975-8232 Available online on www.ijpsr.com 4528 IJPSR (2012), Vol. 3, Issue 11 (Research Article) Received on 01 August, 2012; received in revised form 08 September, 2012; accepted 26 October, 2012 IMPLEMENTING SIX SIGMA TO IMPROVE HOSPITAL DISCHARGE PROCESS Kirti Udayai* and Piyush Kumar International Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), Plot No-3, HAF Pocket, Sector 18A, Phase II Dwarka, New Delhi 110075, India Jaypee Medical Center, Sector -128, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India ABSTRACT Privatizations of health care have changed the functioning and demand of health care system. As today's competitive environment leaves no scope for error, we need to delight our patients, look for new ways to exceed their expectations on continuous basis, with a focus on improvement in technical skills, human skills and to develop cost effective methodologies. To meet challenges, implementation of six sigma is the utmost solution. The concept is still in its nascent stage in Indian health care system. Six sigma is a scientific concept, provides measurement of every activity in the hospital by using various statistical tools. Alternatively delay in discharge of patients was a chronic problem at a leading Indian Hospitals. Good discharge management is vital to ensure patient satisfaction; bed availability for emergency and elective admissions; and quality of patient care remains high. This paper attempts to study six sigma aspects in the discharge process of a corporate hospital. INTRODUCTION: When the global economy is services- driven and more than 75% of the GDP of most developed countries is contributed by services, India, though known globally for services offered in the field of IT, BPO, Finance, Healthcare, Telecommunication has to improve the quality of services offered and the skills of the workforce to maintain sustainable competitive advantage 1 . Quality management became imperative for the manufacturing sector in the 1970s and 1980s, for service organizations in the 1980s and 1990s, and, finally, for the healthcare industry in the 1990 onwards 2 . Today, there is ever growing demand for improved public service delivery especially in Medical world. Health care today is highly dynamic and offers creative advances in technology and treatment. It is a complex web overburdened by resource limitations, other constraints inefficiencies, negligence, errors and other issues that threaten the safety of patient care and service delivery. In the current competitive scenario, the demanding corporate strategies and the ever rising branding world many hospitals and healthcare set-ups strive to implement the best and stand out as a benchmark in their relative domain 3 . Pioneered at Motorola in the mid-1980s, Six Sigma was initially targeted to quantify the defects occurred during manufacturing processes, and to reduce those defects to a very small level. Motorola claimed to have saved several million dollars. Keywords: Six Sigma, Discharge Process, Hospital, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement and Control) Correspondence to Author: Kirti Udayai International Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), Plot No-3, HAF Pocket, Sector 18A, Phase II Dwarka, New Delhi 110075, India E-mail: kirtiudayai@iihmr.org QUICK RESPONSE CODE IJPSR: ICV (2011)- 5.07 Website: www.ijpsr.com