Last month, I saw a headline flying around Twitter about a survey that says a majority of hospital pharmacies are embracing Lean. A statement like that, of course, begs the question of what “embracing” means and we might also ask what “Lean” means in this concept. Hooray, they are doing 5S? Here is the web […]

I recently saw a tweet that referenced a May 2014 that was sent to President Obama and his administration: “Report to the President - Better HealthCare and Lower Costs: Accelerating Improvement Through Systems Engineering.” The report was written by the “President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology,” or PCAST, and a working group that includes professors, […]

MP3 File (run time 34:37) Joining me today for Episode #204 is Paul Plsek (@PaulPlsek) and we’re talking about his excellent book (a Shingo Research Award recipient this year) titled Accelerating Health Care Transformation with Lean and Innovation: The Virginia Mason Experience. Virginia Mason, of course, is Virginia Mason Medical Center, the outstanding Lean organization […]

MP3 File (run time 34:37) Joining me today for Episode #204 is Paul Plsek (@PaulPlsek) and we’re talking about his excellent book (a Shingo Research Award recipient this year) titled Accelerating Health Care Transformation with Lean and Innovation: The Virginia Mason Experience. Virginia Mason, of course, is Virginia Mason Medical Center, the outstanding Lean organization […]

MP3 File (run time 40:21)  | Listen via YouTube Read the transcript My guest for Episode #203 (and an upcoming Part 2) is Chris Jerry, founder of The Emily Jerry Foundation.  The foundation was created in the aftermath of the tragic death of his daughter, Emily - a preventable medical error caused by a number of factors and […]

MP3 File (run time 34:56) My guest today for Episode 202 is Patrick Graupp, co-author of the excellent book Getting to Standard Work in Health Care: Using TWI to Create a Foundation for Quality Care, co-authored with Martha Purrier from Virginia Mason Medical Center. If you’re brand new to the Training Within Industry (TWI) model, […]

In this video, I talk about the use of Lean thinking in hospital facility design. The talk is given in the “Ignite” format, where you have five minutes and the slides automatically advance every 15 seconds on you. About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology. Mark is […]

This video contains clips of a talk I gave at the University of Michigan Health System in early 2014. About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology. Mark is author of the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, as well as the new Executive Guide to […]

At KaiNexus, Dr. Greg Jacobson and I have been doing new webinars each month (see the library here). Our most recent one was hosted by our friends and partners at Gemba Academy, so thanks to them for that and all of their support. Last week’s webinar is archived on our website, which you can access […]

The so-called “PICK chart” has become a pretty common sight in healthcare as a way of visualizing and prioritizing Lean or Kaizen improvement ideas. The concept was supposedly invented at Lockheed Martin, but it’s a pretty common-sensical approach that’s used to sort and rank ideas based on two dimensions: Impact the idea would have (low […]

I had a great conversation with my fellow Lean healthcare blogger, Brian Buck, the other day. We talk about once a month or so… Brian claims I am mentoring him, but it’s a great two-way exchange and discussion that I always learn from. Brian asked a really interesting question: “How many ‘just do its’ are […]