Dr. John Toussaint Talks Lean Healthcare on The Lean Nation Show

Back on Tuesday, John Toussaint, MD, author of the outstanding book On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry, was on “The Lean Nation” radio show with “Captain Karl” Wadensten talking about Lean Healthcare.

John’s appearance can be heard here, starting about 4 minutes into the program.

Topics include how John and ThedaCare got started with Lean and what they learned from manufacturing companies (while adding “caring and compassion” to that mix for healthcare, as John said). They talk about recommendations for other hospitals, how to get started with Lean, based on their experience with kaizen events and other approaches for improvement at ThedaCare.

John also talks about the importance of senior leaders (including the CEO) participating directly in events (including his own initial resistance to the idea). John also discusses the important of having patients directly involved in events, the need to eliminate the “shame and blame culture” in healthcare, and healthcare reform efforts in DC, among other topics. Take a listen… it’s about 26 minutes total.

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.