Utilization of Lean Methodology to Refine Hiring Practices in a Clinical Research Center Setting

Lean methodology is a continuous process improvement approach that is used to identify and eliminate unnecessary steps (or waste) in a process. It increases the likelihood that the highest level of value possible is provided to the end-user, or customer, in the form of the product delivered through that process. Lean methodology has been used widely in healthcare and manufacturing settings but there is a limited amount of publicly available information on its use in research settings. The Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center--Durham (CSPEC-Durham) is one of five epidemiology centers established by the Cooperative Studies Program (CSP) and serve as national resources for epidemiologic research and training in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The purpose of this project was to determine the effectiveness of utilizing the Lean methodology to identify and eliminate non-value added steps in our center's hiring process and to increase its value to center staff. A team comprised of representatives from each of the Center's three operational cores was assembled: Executive Leadership/Administration, Computational Sciences, and Project Management. This team completed an A3, a tool to organize Plan-Do-Study-Act improvement processes into 9 steps, related to the Center's interview process. A gap analysis was conducted to better understand the root causes of interview process deficiencies. Lastly, a survey was developed to constantly evaluate effectiveness, efficiency, and staff satisfaction with the revised interview process at the end of each hiring cycle. Pre-defined metrics were displayed in a color-coded dashboard. As a result of the A3, the team developed a comprehensive set of guidelines, including questions, for the interview process. These guidelines provided clarity to roles, responsibilities, and expectations for staff members participating in an interview panel. The improved interview process resulted in increased staff productivity and morale by reducing the number of work hours spent by staff on an interview process and decreasing the number of days spent on the duration of an interview cycle. Overall, center staff are satisfied with interview guidelines that were developed as a result of the A3. Additional areas identified for Lean improvement include: revising the interview process for internal candidates, and improving the alignment of interview questions to the evaluation guide used to rate position candidates.