Accessibility to hospital care is constantly impeded by a variety of delays observed in emergency department and surgery department sectors. Inspired by the Lean and Six Sigma principles, MAGIC-Lean is a measurement tool that adequately measures these types of delays and quickly pinpoints areas for optimization within these healthcare facility sectors.

MAGIC-Lean is defined as follows:

• A data mining tool for managing data from health information systems
• A tool for improving processes from an optimal resource management standpoint
• A guidance tool for evaluating and controlling value-added activities
• A computer-support tool for healthcare facilities, on-site medical teams and external health professionals.

The MAGIC-Lean Surgery Department module specializes in:

• Measuring and examining the different types of delays or variations in the surgery department (e.g., beginning and end of a procedure, average time per surgery/surgeon, delay between procedures, etc.)
• Optimizing time used in the operating rooms
• Comparing and recognizing variations between the different clinical stakeholders
• Estimating the financial impact of changes to clinical practices or fluctuations in the volume of surgeries performed in the surgery department
• Comparing delays before and after changes are implemented in the surgery department.

The MAGIC-Lean Emergency Department module specializes in:

• Measuring and examining the different types of delays or variations in the ED (e.g., triage, stretcher and ambulatory patient flow, re-assessment, medical management, consultation, discharges, etc.)
• Comparing delays before and after changes are implemented in the ED.

MédiaMed Technologies’ cofounders successfully completed Lean and Six Sigma certified training so they could offer performance improvement tools for healthcare facilities that were based on Lean and Six Sigma principles. Daniel Handfield has a Six Sigma black belt certification and Dr. Jean Mireault has a Six Sigma green belt certification.