-Talent Development-
Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center (Gifu Prefecture, 604 beds)

Backgrounds and Objectives

Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center is the front-runner for acute care in Gifu Prefecture, delivering top-level care through its Emergency Medical Center, Cancer Center, Cardiovascular Center, Perinatal Center, Pediatric Center, and Obstetrics & Gynaecology Center.

In particular, the hospital runs a 24-hour ER, and takes in more than 6,000 ambulance / Doctor Heli cases a year. Having acquired the highest rank of DPC hospitals since the beginning of the DPC system, Director of Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center, Dr. Hiroshi Takiya, decided to form a team of analysts within the hospital to ensure continuous monitoring and sustained outcomes to maintain its quality of care delivery and status as a DPC hospital.

Methodology

Building this analysis team was part of GHC’s 9.5 year-long engagement with Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center. GHC consultants helped the hospital to engage in the process of team formation – from identifying staff interested and willing to commit to analysis as a way to maintain / improve quality of healthcare, to carrying out a stringent selection process to ensure a healthy diversity of staff from various departments and backgrounds, and finally, education of the team, and internal branding of the team to raise awareness for all other hospital staff.

Outcomes

The successful formation of the analysis team allowed for a restructuring of internal processes to include a strong review framework, and by extension, for the PDCA (plan-do-check-action) cycle to be religiously followed. Using data to effect positive change, and moving forward, to achieve a shared recognition of the importance of data analysis across all stakeholders in the hospital, is helping Gifu Prefectural General Medical Center to keep its leading position in the region, and improve the value of its care delivery.