Swarming for Improvement
As we study the processes we use to do our work, we see opportunities that we may not have even considered before we learned about the Toyota Production System and Lean. At St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we…
Tag Healthcare
Healthcare Improvement Through Lean, Leadership, and Learning
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.
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More Restaurant Automation – Automating Waste?
YouTube – Automated Bagel Slicer Right after I posted this link with the Yo! Sushi video last week, I went out to run some errands. I stopped to get a bagel and found this bagel transportation automation and took a…
Value Stream Mapping in Healthcare – Does it Differ?
A reader, Dan, asked a great question on the MoveToHealthcare.ning.com site (since closed), re-used here with his permission: I recently attended a 2-day Lean Healthcare Training and Project Report Out session. When they covered the VSM material, I was surprised…
National Patient Safety Day – Clarity in the Meaning
Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority Supports ‘National Patient Safety Day’ – Press Releases – CNBC.com I was walking through Boston Common this morning and saw a woman with a homemade sign that said something about patient safety. I stopped her and…
Article about Lean in Canadian Cataract Surgery and More
A clear vision for better health care – The Globe and Mail This is an article about Lean improvements in the British Columbia health system, where the physicians have been taught to: Identify and purge waste, and stop doing things…
Measuring for Improvement
Note: Welcome LEI visitors… you can check out my main blog page at www.leanblog.org, as I hope you’ll come back. Here are some other recent posts: Where Did I Start With Lean? One Purple Audacious Goal Caution! Warning Signs in…
One Purple Audacious Goal… Northwestern Football or Healthcare Improvement
This might seem like a post about football… but stick with me even if you’re not a sports fan. Many of you regular readers know I’m a Northwestern Wildcats football fanatic, from my days as an undergraduate. I was there…
My New Lean Healthcare Workshop through LEI
Key Concepts of Lean in Healthcare – lean.org As part of my role with the Lean Enterprise Institute, I am developing a two-day intro course that’s designed for people in healthcare. The link to the course is above. You can…
Caution! Warning Signs in the UK
I was fortunate to be in England for five days last week. I saw the “gemba” at five hospitals in three days and attended the Lean Enterprise Academy Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit on Friday. One thing I was taking pictures…
Nice Lean Healthcare Overview in Healthcare Journal
Leading Lean: A Canadian Healthcare Leader’s Guide :: Vol. 12 No. 3 2009 :: Healthcare Quarterly :: Longwoods Publishing Today, I’ll share a link I’ve been wanting to post for a few weeks now, see the link above. It’s an…
“Lean Won’t Work Here… We’re Different!” Is That Really True?
I’m sure anybody who has done any work with Lean has heard these words said in one form or another, often prefaced with a “You don’t understand…” We’re different. Diff’rent (it’s fun to spell that way, like the old show…
LeanBlog Podcast #70 – Tamra Kaplan, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
Episode #70 is an interview with Tamra Kaplan, the COO of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. We talk about the lean transformation work being done in the hospital and Ms. Kaplan’s experience in leading this effort. For an earlier blog…
