Hat tip to my dad who saw this commercial on TV back home in Detroit. It's an ad from the Henry Ford Health System, trumpeting their improvements in reducing errors and infections. They say if hospitals around the world adopted their practices, there would be over one million lives saved each year.
I blogged back in 2007, wondering why more hospitals don't use measurable patient safety measures in their ads (as opposed to vague reputation-based rankings). Do hospitals finally have the data to back such claims? Here is the ad, via YouTube:
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Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker who has worked in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. His latest book is Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. He is author of the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, as well as The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. He also published the anthology Practicing Lean that benefits the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, where Mark is a board member. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.
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Thanks for this post, Mark. Do you have any contacts there that we could get the data that backs the claims on the commercial? It has high production value, but I’m always leary of statistics without knowing where they came from. Kinda like the oft-quoted “Honda Accords are the most stolen vehicle.” Not when you look at theft rates in terms of percentages of total cars of that type on the highway.
Good question. I guess it’s hard to footnote a TV commercial. You could pose the question on their YouTube page for that video.
Good idea – I just posed my question on their YouTube page. Will let you know what they say.