Hi, I'm back from a whirlwind week-long trip to China, where I taught classes on Lean healthcare in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing. I had the chance to visit two very modern hospitals and I really appreciate the interest in healthcare improvement. I'll be blogging more about this next week and beyond.
While I was away, KaiNexus, a technology company I've worked with over the past five years, was featured in this Modern Healthcare article:
Innovations: Software KaiNexus offers Lean an assist
Our founder, Dr. Greg Jacobson, and I are quoted in the article and the work of one of our customers, Mary Greeley Medical Center, is featured.
In part:
“A modern, continuous improvement system is different from a suggestion box,” said Mark Graban, author of Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement and a consultant to KaiNexus. “In a suggestion box model, basically everything bubbles up to a committee. The kaizen model (the Lean philosophy) is based on local teams managing local decisions.”
In addition to the transparency the software provides, it's also designed to be a collaborative rather than a passive tool. Managers have a certain amount of time to respond to an idea and will receive alerts when they haven't done so.
“The speed in which you answer a new idea really matters,” Jacobson said. Otherwise, employees “get disenfranchised and feel like management isn't listening to them.”
Mark Graban
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.
Well, glad to see you’re back..
Hope you had a great time Mark.
Thanks. It was a fascinating trip. I’d call it a great time. Zero tourism time, unless some leisurely meals count (but many meals on a plane or train or on the run). I’ll be blogging more about the trip, starting tomorrow.