Lean Six Sigma and Athletic Training: A Primer for Athletic Training Educators

Context: Lean as a quality improvement philosophy is new to athletic training despite widespread use in health care for many years. Objective: To introduce the concepts of Lean and Lean Six Sigma and create a primer document for athletic training educators in the classroom. Background: Lean requires organizations to exercise effort along with several dimensions simultaneously to improve patient quality and efficiency while controlling costs and reducing waste. When appropriately executed, Lean transforms how an organization and its employees work, creating an avid quest for quality improvement and, ultimately, patient safety. Synthesis: Lean is a cultural transformation that changes how an organization operates. It requires new habits, skills, and attitudes throughout the organization, from executives to front-line staff. Lean is a journey, not a destination. The culture of Lean involves the relentless pursuit of continuous quality improvement and is composed of 6 principles and numerous tools. Recommendation(s): Whether athletic trainers approach Lean or Lean Six Sigma in a leadership role, or as a stakeholder in a Kaizen event, all should have a working knowledge of the principles, methods, elements, philosophy, and tools of robust process improvement. Moreover, while no best-practice statement exists about how to incorporate Lean Six Sigma into a curriculum, addressing process improvement early may allow immersive-experience students an opportunity to engage in a process improvement initiative, facilitating a greater appreciation of the content, and offer opportunities to engage professionals from other disciplines. Conclusion(s): Lean is reproducible in sports medicine clinics, orthopedic practices, and outpatient and athletic health care facilities, but only when athletic trainers understand the application. Moreover, for this reason, athletic training programs should strongly consider adding a robust process improvement course/content to their graduate curriculums.