WebIEnar Series Episode 2: Conquering the Realms of Reality takes a collaborative approach to critical problem solving a structured framework for teams to uncover the root cause of an issue, develop a robust containment plan, and implement a permanent solution composed of 8 disciplines and is based on the PDCA cycle D1: Use a Team Approach D2: Describe the Problem D3: Develop a Containment Plan D4: Define the Root Cause D5: Develop Corrective Action D6: Implement Corrective Action D7: Prevent Recurrence D8: Congratulate the Team D1 Use a Team Approach • select and establish a team of people with product/process knowledge. TEAM MAKE UP - should be cross-functional TEAM SIZE - a team size of 3-6 members works well TEAM ROLES - assign a team leader, champion, scribe, and subject matter experts SELECTING TEAM MEMBERS - based on skills & knowledge BOUNDARIES OF FREEDOM - what the team is free to do and when it needs to ask for approval How it applies to COVID 19 • WHO should be involved? • WHO, medical experts, microbiologists, research experts, country leaders, etc. D2 Describe the Problem • specify the problem by identifying in quantifiable terms the who, what, where, when, how, and how many for the problem o WHAT is happening? o WHO is being affected? o WHERE is it occurring? o WHEN and how frequently it is happening? o HOW does the problem take place o HOW MUCH is the impact of the problem? How it applies to COVID 19 • Understanding the virus will help the scientists in the formulation of potential vaccine • Determining who are being affected, where it is occurring will help in identifying who needs immediate help. (The answer to these questions even lead to the potential source or root cause of COVID 19) • Finding out how COVID 19 is being acquired helped the scientist to control the spread of the disease through public awareness and other controls such as lockdowns, hygiene solutions, etc. • When the authorities found how big the impact of the problem is, they were able to make immediate decisions to implement lockdowns, restrict operation of non-essential businesses, travel restrictions although they are aware that these could have big effect in our economy D3 Develop a Containment Plan • developing and implementing interim containment or a temporary measure to stop the problem from happening or isolate the problem until the root cause of the problem is found and addressed. How it applies to COVID 19 • Testing, testing, testing! Testing is important so that we know who should be isolated from the uninfected. This would help us keep the number from increasing. • Challenges: Accuracy of test, speed in the release of the result, gap in between the testing day and the result day, coverage of testing (asymptomatic cases) • Contact Tracing helps us identify who are the priorities for the testing. • Challenges: Accuracy, how to identify if contact is significant enough to acquire the disease • Hygiene measures, mandatory usage of PPEs, social distancing protocols, lockdowns help reduce the infection rates. • Challenge: compliance • Additional hospital capacity, adjustment in the facilities (working environment, public transportation, business establishments), restriction in the operation of non-essential businesses also help prevent increase in the infection rate. • Challenge: Budget, Economic problem D4 Define the Root Cause • core of 8D Problem Solving Process • finding the root cause involves sorting through the symptoms to identify cause and effect relationships and using data to pave a path to the real problem so that the root cause can be unearthed • usage of root cause analysis tools such as the Fish Bone Diagram, 5Why Analysis helps reveal the root cause. FMEA could also be used to explore every potential cause and help uncover “hidden” causes in the search for the root cause • data analysis may be supported by data display tools such as trend chart, histogram, scatter diagram and pareto chart • this discipline also involves identifying the escape cause or why the problem was not noticed at the time it occurred. How it applies to COVID 19 • Researches were conducted to determine COVID 19’s origin. The scientists are focusing at Wuhan since that is where the first cases were recorded. • Scientists believe that the virus came from bats or pangolins and was transmitted to human. Until now, the root cause of the virus has not been identified and proven yet. Research is still on-going. • Aside from the fact that we did not realized the occurrence of COVID 19 at an earlier time, there was also a problem on the response of some countries after we became aware of the disease. D5 Develop Corrective Actions • involves identifying a solution that will prevent future incidents, or at the minimum, warn if a problem may recur, is practical, feasible, and cost-effective and robust. • the best solution candidates are those that prevent problems from occurring again. While a detection solution alerts us that the problem has happened again, it does not prevent recurrence. • explore all the options fully to understand whether there are any unwanted implications or possible side-effects How it applies to COVID 19 • Since research on the real root cause / source of the virus is still on-going, scientists are aiming for the COVID 19 vaccine as the solution to this pandemic. • Still, finding out the true origin of the virus will help us be aware of what to avoid in order to not acquire the virus again. D6 Implement Corrective Actions • the identified best corrective actions shall be implemented • action plan and project management tools may be needed to plan and monitor the progress during implementation of the solution. • confirmation trials are necessary to ensure that the solution does what it was intended to do: address the root cause How it applies to COVID 19 • Vaccination D7 Prevent Recurrence • dedicated to making sure you prevent the non-conformity from reoccurring. • this will most likely trigger changes to procedures and will involve updating and documenting procedures, designing and delivering job training and soliciting suggestions from operators • involves verifying that the solution does what it is intended to do through monitoring of the impact of the solution a while after it was implemented • once the solution was verified to be effective, interim containment actions should be discontinued. • Fan out solutions to other similar processes How it applies to COVID 19 • Performing swab testing after administration of the vaccine • Monitoring of the effect of the vaccine, establishing who should receive the vaccine • Getting the statistics of the number of infected cases and recovery rate • Research on other potential source of the virus • No more lockdowns, masks, faceshields, we’re back to the REAL NORMAL D8 Congratulate the Team • dedicated to rewarding your problem-solving team and recognizing their efforts. Feed back on their performance and highlight any areas for improvement – this will help them to develop their problem-solving skills and tighten up the process during the next investigation. How it applies to COVID 19 • Recognizing the who became involved: the medical experts, microbiologists, researchers, the front liners, ALL OF US who are sacrificing something to be able to comply on the policies related to COVID 19 Thank you!
