A daily operating system (DOS) is a way of working to help you answer the question: ‘Are we ready today – if not, why not?’
This question is critical to help improve patient care, access and flow. It give you visibility of today’s operations and allows you to quickly identify problems. Frontline staff are empowered to solve these problems daily, or escalate those they cannot fix.
We have developed a range of resources to help your health service implement a DOS.
What is a DOS?
Not all DOS are the same - you will need to think about what works for your health service.
But they should all have the same supporting elements:
Leadership
Leaders need to support staff to solve problems daily and use the daily huddle structure to escalate any problems that cannot be solved.
Tiered huddle structure
Involves a team or cross-functional group coming together for a short, targeted discussion to understand the current status of the organisation. Problems are identified here, and escalated if they cannot be solved.
Visual management practice
This is simply using visual management rather than texts or other written instructions to help manage daily operations in the huddle structure.
Daily readiness assessment
Involves asking a series of questions about:
- problems
- people and resources
- metrics and goals.