Photo By Jessica Dowell | ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 27, 2021) - Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Nathan Warner,...... read more read more
U.S. Navy Story by Lt. Sarah Ermoshkin, DC, USN
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 27, 2021) - Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Nathan Warner, assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit (NMRTU) Earle demonstrated exceptional commitment to organizational performance improvement by completing his Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Certified Master Black Belt program through Villanova University. He is the first active duty corpsman in the Navy to achieve the level of certified Master Black Belt.
Lean Six Sigma is an approach to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation using a collaborative team-oriented approach and is standard practice in many top Fortune 500 companies. Navy Medicine’s LSS Program launched in 2006 with three goals. First, to create a Lean Six Sigma culture, second, to improve organizational efficiency, and third, to drive out waste and variation. Like the martial arts belt ranking system, there are six levels to certification in Six Sigma: white, yellow, green, black, master black belt.
“Reaching the Master Black Belt represents a huge achievement,” explains Donald “Andy” McCoy, the command’s senior LSS master black belt. “In my 29 years working for Navy Medicine, I’ve seen people spend their entire careers working toward this level of organizational understanding and analytics and Petty Officer Warner did it in just a few short years.”
A Middletown, New York native, Warner started his Lean Six Sigma journey in the Navy at Camp Lejeune paying for it out of his own pocket. He took personal leave for the yellow belt course at Coastal Carolina Community College (CCC) Jacksonville, NC. After transferring to NMRTU Earle, he talked with his chief about his career goals and expressed his interest in applying Lean Six Sigma to the clinic. This time the Navy sent him on temporary active duty orders to Patuxent River, Maryland where he completed the Lean Six Sigma green belt course. Out of 25 students, he was one of three students who achieved a 100 percent on the final exam. In July 2019, he was awarded the certified LSS green belt Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) and from then on he has been working on process improvement projects for the command. The NEC system is similar to the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) designators used in the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps.
“I love it because it represents the trinity of my values; analytics, communication, and problem solving,” said Warner. “In addition, it fosters my natural curiosity of exploring how and why processes and people are performing or behaving the way they are.” When asked what he found most fulfilling about applying Lean Six Sigma practices, he said, “The ability to connect, collaborate, and help individuals improve their processes.”
Currently Warner serves as the Continuous Process Improvement and Lean Six Sigma (CPI/LSS) coordinator at NMRTU Earle, project lead for organizational performance improvement, and project mentor for LSS green belts at Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Annapolis.
“His understanding of data-driven decision-making during the health pandemic couldn’t come at a more critical time,” stated Cmdr. Marjorie Wytzka, director of Annapolis’ branch health clinics. “Specifically, Petty Officer Warner’s LSS training allowed him to lead several transformational efforts aimed at developing rapid COVID-19 testing capabilities pier-side for Fleet ships at Weapons Stations Earle.”
“Since the Lean Six Sigma program launch at Naval Health Clinic Annapolis in 2006 a total of 121 LSS projects have been completed,” explained McCoy. “Annapolis ranks number 1 of 27 Organizations in Naval Medical Forces Atlantic (NMFL). The projects improved a wide array of processes such as tele-medicine and secure message capabilities, developing a Maritime Trauma Training Course for Corpsmen and improving opioid prescribing practices. Total project benefits for NMRTC Annapolis is $1,073,666 in cost avoidance, reduced cycle time by 13,860 days and reduced waiting time in processes by over 135K days.
Cost saving is definitely a priority for Navy Medicine and our command,” stated Capt. Afshin Afarin, chief medical officer. “At the heart of these data analytics that Petty Officer Warner is applying, is improving patient care, increasing time providers can spend with their patients, and ultimately helping us roll out reliable approaches to the delivery of care in unique and challenging environments.”
Since 1845, NHCA has been committed to exemplifying the best of Navy Medicine though innovation, quality care, technology, talent management, and leadership. NHCA provides health support in six locations across three states. At its core is the care and commissioning readiness of the more than 4,400 members of the Brigade of Midshipmen. NHCA providers contribute to athlete development on and off the field, and support the Academy as team physician for 33 varsity sports teams and 26 club sports.
| Date Taken: | 01.27.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.05.2021 09:46 |
| Story ID: | 388445 |
| Location: | ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 2,534 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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