96 Leveraging Lean in Medical Laboratories
It is very difcult, even with all the data and reports produced, to get good baseline data because
the data are only as good as those entering the data. Having everyone working to the same data
entry point denitions and capturing it in the same “reproducible and repeatable” manner in order
to make sure it is accurate can be a difcult challenge.
For example, in one ED, we were told that the correct data was always entered and updated sev-
eral times a day. Yet, when we dug deeper, we found it took at least 24 hours of reviewing every case
from the prior day before the data was even 80% accurate. Think about it—these are legal docu-
ments! We found this not to be an isolated incident. Consider trying ...