Most nurses are deeply involved in healthcare development work. Nurses are required to participate as they coordinate processes with other health professionals in the entire hospital care chain.
To investigate how nurses perceive and evaluate healthcare development work when Lean and Six Sigma are introduced in clinical practises, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seventeen nurses at two hospitals were used.
The nurses mean that quality healthcare is more dependent on hospital personnel than on the use of Lean and Six Sigma. Lean can be used in some healthcare areas but not in all. Six Sigma can be used only if some precautions are taken and personnel participate in the decision-making. Furthermore nurses do stress the importance of education and training, teamwork, and cooperation as ways to improve healthcare.