LEAN organizations constantly strive to find the root cause of problem. Tackling any cause that isn’t the root cause creates muda or waste in terms of effort and constant rework.
The purpose of using the 5 whys tool is to Identify the root cause of problems. It should be used when you need to implement corrective action of a problem and want to be sure your actions will address the root cause and not just the symptoms of the problem.
It is a simple, non mathematical tool that can and should be used by everyone.
How to Do It:
– Question “why” a given situation exists or condition has occurred.
– Document the response.
– Evaluate the documented response asking “why” did this happen or “why” is this true.
– Document the response.
– Repeat the process five times until the root cause for the original problem is determined.
“5 Whys Analysis” of a Healthcare Problem
Problem: Length of time in ED is too long
1.Why is there such a long length of stay in the ED?
All the ED bays are full and we can’t bring in more patients from the waiting room.
2. Why are all the ED bays full?
We can’t transfer patients to the units.
3. Why can’t we transfer patients to the units?
There are no clean unit beds.
4. Why are there no clean unit beds?
There is not enough staff in housekeeping to support the demand from ED.
5. Why is there insufficient environmental services staff?
Their main shift ends at 3pm. That is when the demand to admit patients from the ED increases.
Root Cause: We don’t have enough resources to clean all the rooms as fast as needed because our housekeeping resources do not match the demand.
Possible Solutions:
1. We will adjust schedules to match demand.
2. Develop a better alert system to notify housekeeping staff when rooms need to be cleaned.