DHA 711 Week 5 Assignment: Gemba Walk
The Gemba walk was conducted at the Eastern Wing of the Diabetic Care department of the Southwestern Chronic Care Center in Texas. The wing has a nursing station, 25 beds, and an inpatient pharmacy department. The walk commenced at the Pharmacy and stretched to the nursing desk. It also covered the conference room: DHA 711 Week 5 Assignment: Gemba Walk.
Several healthcare professionals were encountered during the walking session. These included three attending pharmacists and the in-charge pharmacists. Five patients and the nursing team were also engaged. The interdisciplinary team was also met as they were preparing for their routine rounding.
The Gemba walk was conducted physically between 0917 hrs. and 1007 hrs. The walk provided insight into the efficiency of the care operationalization within the department. Foremost, there was evidence of activity across all points of care, with caregivers engaging each other and the patients. The healthcare professionals within the department were also cooperative.
Panel discussions on the medication plans for the patient were ongoing at the pharmacy department. Likewise, nurses were busy recording in their record books as they prepared for the rounding. Engagement with the nursing team at the desk revealed that there has been a mild shortage over the past few weeks. The in-charge nurses attributed the shortage to an expanding patient base.
The nurses noted that staff rescheduling is necessitated to offset the problem. The clinical teams were composed of healthcare professionals from different departments. These included nurses, pharmacists, and physicians.
The team was doing a short brief before commencing the rounding. Interaction with the patient was positive, as those interviewed opined to be receiving high-quality care.
The walk revealed that several improvement opportunities exist. To begin with, the team’s sync and awareness of what is expected of them makes addressing apparent problems easier. For instance, nurses acknowledge the existence of mild staffing shortages and maintain openness to exploring scheduling to resolve problems, demonstrating the presence of an opportunity to solve them.
This way, the in-charge nurses can be educated on staff scheduling to address mild shortages, thereby optimizing the care delivered to the patients. The integration of teamwork within the clinical teams provides an opportunity for innovation. Through information sharing, team collaborations can be leveraged to come up with new ideas on how to improve clinical care.
Several barriers may manifest when addressing the problem. The level of uptake of the educational approach to addressing staff challenges remains unknown. As Hubbart (2023) reports, change processes are sometimes tumultuous and may fail to attain the desired outcome.
In this case, the in-charge nurses may not buy into the plan, especially when the patient volume increases. It is thus important that the administrators maintain open-mindedness when approaching the matter. This will enable an exploration of all avenues necessary to resolve the staffing shortages.
The Gemba walk provided information on the department, including persons to interview, when to conduct the walk, and questions to ask. The plan to engage caregivers and patients within the department worked. The persons interviewed gave their thoughts on several aspects of operationalization including what they wanted to be improved. Potential improvement opportunities exist in the time taken when interacting with staff members.
Several lessons were picked during the walk. These included the significance of patient interaction in ascertaining their experiences and level of satisfaction, the space of nurses in addressing apparent challenges involving nurse workflows, and the importance of collaboration in optimizing clinical outcomes.
References
Hubbart, J. A. (2023). Organizational change: The Challenge of Change Aversion. Administrative Sciences, 13(7), 162. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13070162
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Question 
Assignment Content
Upon completion of this assignment, you will have summarized a real-world opportunity for improvement in a complex health care organization that is the result of your Gemba Walk.
Refer to the Gemba Walk Plan you developed in Week 3 (59108 – DHA 710 Week 3 Assignment).
Conduct a Gemba Walk.As a systems thinker, innovator, and change agent, produce a 525- to 1,050-word executive summary in which you do the following:
DHA 711 Week 5 Assignment: Gemba Walk
- Discuss the 4 Ws (where, who, when, and what) and your findings from your Gemba Walk.
- Discuss where you see an opportunity (a) to solve a problem, or (b) for innovation.
- Discuss potential challenges or barriers you anticipate in addressing the problem or implementing the innovation, and explain how you would approach them.
- Provide a retrospective of your Gemba plan. Consider what worked, potential improvement opportunities, and lessons learned. Adhere to the 4 Ws model for your retrospective.
Note: For guidance formatting your executive summary, review the Sample Executive Summary found in the University Library Center for Writing Excellence.