My guest for Episode #317 of the podcast is Patricia Morrill, a speaker, trainer, consultant, researcher, and author of the book The Perils of Un-Coordinated Healthcare: A Strategic Approach toward Eliminating Preventable Harm.
With 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, she has focused on blending operational efficiencies with healing environments. Patricia has successfully integrated Lean and Project Management methodologies with organizational strategic goals to build roadmaps for execution. Check out her website and her blog.
In today's episode, we discuss her personal story about her mother's death that came as the result of a preventable medical error. What can be done to prevent medical errors, harm, and death?
Streaming Player:
For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/317.
For earlier episodes of my podcast, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS, through Android apps, or via Apple Podcasts. You can also subscribe and listen via Stitcher.
Topics and notes for this episode:
- Can you introduce yourself to the listeners… what was your career path and how did you get exposed to Lean and Six Sigma?
- I'd like to get right into the heart of the patient safety issue… What led to the writing of your book?
- The high-level version of her mom's story
- What were the main causes of the problems that led to your mother's death, in your view?
- What are some of the statistics on patient harm… the impact beyond your mother?
- What questions should be discussed in hospitals to help proactively prevent errors and preventable harm?
- What can be done to prevent medical errors, harm and death?
- What is your 10-step model of “Process Improvement Strategy Deployment”?
- How do we learn? What did they learn after this event? Are they doing a better job of risk assessment?
- If you had a magic wand, what three things would you change in healthcare tomorrow?
- Where can people learn more about the book and connect with you?
- Her book
From the press release about her book:
“My main goal in writing this book is to provide a 360 view of the issue of medical error as it pertains to patients, families, physicians, workforce, leaders and culture,” Morrill said. “The third leading cause of death needs to be talked about now. Everyone needs to understand their role in changing that statistic.”
And:
“My hope is that healthcare executives will share this book with their teams and use it for team training purposes,” Morrill said. “I designed it to generate open discussion, critical thought, self-assessment and deep-rooted strategic planning in the healthcare community.
“Ultimately, my hope is that this book can help to make preventable harm a more discussable topic among healthcare professionals and throughout our society,” she said.
Videos of Patricia:
Thanks for listening!
Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Let’s work together to build a culture of continuous improvement and psychological safety. If you're a leader looking to create lasting change—not just projects—I help organizations:
- Engage people at all levels in sustainable improvement
- Shift from fear of mistakes to learning from them
- Apply Lean thinking in practical, people-centered ways
Interested in coaching or a keynote talk? Let’s start a conversation.
