Healthcare improvement isn’t about working harder—it’s about better systems, better leadership, and a culture that supports learning and speaking up. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on Lean healthcare, patient safety, quality improvement, leadership, and continuous improvement. Many of these posts draw on real hospital experiences and lessons from Deming, Toyota, and frontline healthcare teams, with a consistent emphasis on respect for people and learning from mistakes.
Toyota model transforms St. Clair Hospital ER – Manufacturing principles meet medical care Here’s a nice overview of a Pittsburgh area hospital’s Lean efforts in the emergency department. What were their results? The average wait to get into the emergency…
Solving Health Care Problems By Design : NPR Thanks to Andrew B. for passing this along – audio and web text from NPR with some concepts that might sound a lot like Lean. In an interview with the CEO of…
Article – How Toyota builds cars Here’s an article from Canada about how Toyota (an automaker) manages to be influential to Bombardier (maker of planes) and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario (a fixer of people). The article, I think,…
Episode #76 is a discussion with Dr. David Jaques, VP of Surgical Services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO. In this podcast, Dr. Jaques talks about how he has led Lean efforts that involve physicians in a unique “6/3”…
Patrick Hagan: Waste Not, Want Not: The Key to Reducing Costs – washingtonpost.com Here is an outstanding piece from the President & Chief Operating Officer of Seattle Children’s Hospital, Pat Hagan. Coincidentally, I just recorded a podcast today with Joan…
Broward General nurse possibly exposed patients to risk – South Florida – MiamiHerald.com Story and nurse discussion here A number of you (thanks!) sent me this article from CNN about a Fort Lauderdale nurse who resigned — and may face…
Wachter’s World : Physician Accountability for Violation of Safety Rules: The Time For Excuses Has Passed I think Bob Wachter has it completely right in his blog post. He also makes the same point in his book Understanding Patient Safety. While…
Here is a video from Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital (HDGH) in Windsor, Ontario Canada about their Lean effort, the video is part of their main Lean page. The video starts with John Shook talking about the real definition of “Lean” (it’s…
Embryo mix-up worries couples | detnews.com | The Detroit News I’ve seen a lot of news stories about couples who suffer through errors caused by in-vitro fertization labs. A Toledo woman recently gave birth to a baby that was actually…
Running a hospital: MICUs go Lean: Result = Happiness In lieu of a blog post today, I’m leaving you with a recent post on Paul Levy’s “Running a Hospital” blog about Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. You can see pictures and…
Joint Commission Changes Requirement for Patient ID during Blood Draws | Dark Daily Thanks to my friend Robert Michel and the Dark Daily for bringing this story and issue to my attention. Definitely check out his web site if you…
Lean Forums – Lean Healthcare in Italy I wish I was attending, but I was asked to pass along this info about a Lean Healthcare conference that’s being held in Genova in December. The link above goes to the Lean…