Case Study: Akron Children’s Hospital reduces unplanned extubations with Minitab

Serious about Patient Safety Akron Children’s Hospital Uses Lean Six Sigma and Minitab in the NICU

Akron Children’s Hospital, working with Minitab Statistical Software, set out to reduce unplanned extubations in its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Mahoning Valley campus. The hospital’s respiratory care team had been tracking these safety events, which can harm fragile newborn patients, and needed a better way to analyze the data and improve performance.

Using Minitab, the multidisciplinary team applied Lean Six Sigma tools such as fishbone diagrams, cause maps, control charts, hypothesis testing, and process capability analysis to identify root causes and implement changes like improved staff communication and the “two to turn” rule. Minitab helped show that the unplanned extubation rate fell from 3 per 100 intubated patient days to around the Vermont Oxford Network’s 2-per-100 benchmark, with a statistically significant improvement (p = 0.014), while also supporting broader process improvements and green belt certification for the project lead.

Akron Children’s Hospital

Bonnie Powell

Registered Respiratory Therapist and Manager of Respiratory Services