Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32880500›Full record

ArticleInquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing

Applying Lean Six Sigma to Reduce the Incidence of Unplanned Surgery Cancellation at a Large Comprehensive Tertiary Hospital in China.

Ling-Feng Zhu, Wei-Yang Qian, Gang Zhou, Min Yang, Jing-Jing Lin, Jing-Ling Jin, Shu-Jing Dong, Lin-Hong Zhu, Hai-Xiao Chen

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Augmenting healthcare systems for pandemic preparedness: a Lean Six Sigma perspective.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Ling-Feng ZhuTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Wei-Yang QianTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Gang ZhouTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Min YangTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Jing-Jing LinTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Jing-Ling JinTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Shu-Jing DongTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Lin-Hong ZhuTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.ORCID 0000-0002-3447-6707
Hai-Xiao ChenTaizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Wenzhou Medical University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Unplanned surgery cancellation (USC) was an important quality management issue in the course of medical care for surgical patients, which caused inappropriate use of hospital resources and had negative impacts on quality and safety. This study used Lean Six Sigma to reduce the incidence of USC. Following the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) process, the main factors influencing the USC were identified, such as the time of informing patient admission, the time of submitting operation notice, and the management of test report follow-up. A series of measures were implemented including improving the health education content of virtual bed patients, standardizing the way of communication between the Admission Management Center and the patients, improving the timing of anesthesia evaluation, optimizing the process of operation notice with an information system, and implementing the regulations of virtual bed management. The incidence of USC reduced from 10.21% in Jan. 2016 to 3.8% in Dec. 2016, and the

Indexed as

Efficiency, OrganizationalSurgical Procedures, OperativeTotal Quality ManagementChinaHumansIncidenceQuality ImprovementTertiary Care CentershealthcareLean Six Sigmaquality improvementunplanned surgery cancellation

Identifiers

PMID32880500
PMCPMC7649947
OpenAlexW3083382707

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.