I was speaking with the head of Service Improvement in a major University Hospital about Rapid Improvement Events (RIE). We were discussing the fact that many people either don't understand the difference between Value Stream Mapping/Analysis and RIEs or they are stuck with a rigid RIE model (ie 'An RIE must always be 5 days long').

I sometimes get a request asking if we can run an RIE on X, Y, Z of the month from someone who has heard of Lean and who has been advised that the right approach is 5 Days and who does not understand that this is the road to failure.

RIEs are used to physically transform a process and is a tactical tool. Prior to an RIE you will need to Scope the programme of improvement and undertake a Pathway Redesign Exercise (sometimes called a VSE or VSA standing for Value Stream Event or Value Stream Analysis).

The Value Stream Analysis/Event is used to understand the end to end pathway and create an integrated 'Future State' and an implementation plan. From this 'Future State' there will be a mix of RIEs and other approaches to implementing improvements, and even the RIEs will be designed to suit the needs of the project. For example, we are running (amongst other things) three RIEs next week, one is 2 days long, one is 3 days long and the third is 1/2 day long....and they are length because they do not need to be longer.

What do you think?

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