Q&A: Dr. Kristin Mekeel Receives Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Kristin Mekeel, MD, chief of the UC San Diego Division of Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery, is the first surgeon at UC San Diego and one of only a few physicians at UC San Diego to have earned her Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. To receive this certification, Dr. Mekeel completed a cross-functional process improvement project resulting in at least a $100k impact for UC San Diego Health.
Dr. Mekeel is a board-certified transplant surgeon who specializes in liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation surgery in adults and children. She performs operations in patients with conditions such as chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, liver cancer and diabetes. As Chief of Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery, Dr. Mekeel leads a group of four surgeons performing over 250 transplants, living and deceased donor organ procurements, and other surgeries per year. She also serves as vice-chair of Quality for the Department of Surgery and program director for Surgical Quality at UC San Diego Health. In these roles, Dr. Mekeel oversees quality and safety for operating rooms and surgical subspecialties.
In this month's Q&A, Dr. Mekeel discusses her project for the Lean Six Sigma program, how it will benefit the field of surgery (as well as patients) and what motivates her to continue her important work.
Q: What was your project and why was it recognized?
A: My project was creating a surgeon feedback loop. Using a QR code, surgeons can log into a brief survey about their case and report any problems they had with equipment, instruments, staffing or other issues during their case. This survey goes directly to the coordinators for their services and there is an action plan and response with two weeks.
Q: How might your project benefit the department or the field of surgery on the whole?
A: The goal was to increase surgeon feedback on their cases and find solutions to make future cases more efficient for surgeons and safer for patients.
Q: What drew you to the field as a surgeon?
A: My surgical rotation on transplant surgery as a resident not only drew me to the field of surgery but to transplantation. The operations require immense technical skill and have immediate positive results. Watching a kidney pink up with blood flow and make urine is extremely rewarding. I love telling patients they are off dialysis because they have a new functioning kidney. Transplantation also requires surgeons to be very good clinicians. When I was a medical student I thought they were the superheroes of the hospital and could not wait to join the club.
Q: What motivates you to keep going?
A: Motivation becomes harder as you age, especially in surgery, which is a very physical job. While I still find transplant surgery rewarding, I am more passionate about my administrative roles in quality and patient safety. I enjoy working in the bigger picture and solving systems problems that impact the quality and safety of all patients who are treated at UC San Diego Health.
Q: In what direction would you like to see the field of surgery heading in the coming decades?
A: I would like the field of surgery to continue to be kinder. We should be kinder to ourselves, our colleagues, and our patients. I think we have come a long way from when I started in surgery, but there is work to be done.