Mark Graban’s newer Lean Blog Audio podcast series with “audiobook” style readings of selected blog posts. Learn how to subscribe.
I do a lot of work across the U.S., but I’ve also been very fortunate to work with hospitals, clinics, and health systems around the world over the past 11 years. It started with a few trips to Canada to conduct some…
A few weeks ago, I saw this announcement about Dean Gruner, MD, the second CEO to lead ThedaCare during their Lean journey: Dr. Dean Gruner, ThedaCare President and CEO, Announces Retirement “Dean Gruner, MD, president and CEO of ThedaCare since…
I was happy to see this announcement the other day: UCSF to Train Residents in Lean Management and Process Improvement From the announcement: “UC San Francisco will train medical residents and fellows in Lean management principles, as part of a…
You might remember the hubbub (a kerfuffle?) over the NEJM opinion piece written by Dr. Jerome Groopman and Dr. Pamela Hartzband. See my first post about their article. There are more links at the bottom of this post Now, the “Perspective”…
Continuing to go through my notes, picking up from my last post… Visuals The presenter said something that’s certainly a familiar challenge with facilities here in the U.S.: ‘”Patients often get lost due to a lack of good signs.” One…
Continuing from Part 1 of my post about my first day of my first China trip, I’d like to share more about the Lean healthcare conference and presentations that took place. In the next presentation from a Chinese hospital, the…
After arriving at the hotel in Beijing at about 8 pm the night before, I participated in a day-long Lean Healthcare conference that very next morning. I’m glad I always presented in the mornings because I was always fresh (I…
Thanks to those of you who pre-ordered the 3rd edition of my book Lean Hospitals. Click below to read a free preview from the book, the start of the chapter on leading and engaging employees (arguably, it’s all about leadership). Improving the…
tl;dr: Lean doesn’t mean “zero inventory” — and it doesn’t mean eliminating waiting rooms either. In both manufacturing and healthcare, low inventory and less waiting are outcomes of capable, reliable processes, not goals to chase through absolutes. For decades, manufacturers…
TL;DR: In the 1980s and ’90s, GM spent roughly $90 billion trying to automate its way to competitiveness. Toyota took a different path–focusing on management systems, culture, and engaging people to improve processes. The results weren’t accidental, and the lesson…
Some of you reading this might remember the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement of the late 1980s and 1990s. Many would look back and label it a “fad.” As I’ve said about Lean, it’s only a fad to those who are susceptible to fads. As I blogged about in 2006, management is often prone to...
Now, there’s a story written by an emergency medicine physician, Dr. Brad Cotton, that appears in a publication called “Emergency Medicine News” — FIRST PERSON: ‘We Fired Our Hospital’...
