Over the last couple of years, a number of people would have come across the term Six Sigma. The two words Six Sigma (i.e. the number 6 and the Greek letter ) represent a statistical measure and a management philosophy. To illustrate, in football (soccer), there are two ways to win a game: playing wonderfully well or by making fewer mistakes. The last may not be as sensational as the wonderful play, but it is just as important to win. While you need the Maradonas and the Peles to make the play sensational, everyone can focus on making fewer mistakes. The real power of Six Sigma is simple as it combines focus on people (team) as well as the process. Now, sigma is a measurement to establish how good or bad the performance of a process is, and to improve something you must first know your current level of performance and then you decide how much to improve. In other words it is the level of perfection we aim for. Many Healthcare Organizations worldwide have started to operate different Six Sigma projects. For example in operating rooms have targeted areas such as: Improving first case start times; Optimizing technologies; Improving room turnover times; Ensuring appropriate scheduling; Improving admissions/ registration, etc. Delays in first case starts present problems for many healthcare organizations and tend to produce a domino effect on the rest of the schedule. A variety of factors may impact the average operating room turnover time (from the time one patient leaves the room until the next patient enters) so all these examples and more are the various factors that can influence OR utilization, safety and throughput. Process variability may contribute to inefficiency and waste - whether is an academic medical center, a small/rural hospital or a large multi-hospital system - and attention must be paid to both technical and cultural improvement strategies that can be maintained long-term togethre with the quality of care.

Six Sigma can help to reduce this variability and ensure that services are
delivered in the safest possible manner.