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.
Yesterday, I shared some old auto industry images and clips from the August 1980 LIFE magazine. More striking to me was an ad from Aetna health insurance, pictured below, the full ad and then some detailed clips below (click any…
Lean Leap to Health Care #9 (Click for Part #8) by Scott McDuffee “I’m not sure if I have ever learned anything with my mouth open. But, I know I learn a lot with my eyes, ears, and mind open.” Sitting…
After watching and blogging about the first half of Oprah’s medical errors show that featured the story of Dennis Quaid’s kids, I finally got into the second half. The first story is that of Molly (left), a woman who was…
I had an epiphany the other day. It was one of those moments where I was pretty ashamed and was ready to turn in my Lean credentials. I spent too much time each day deleting the same emails from companies…
Hard times curtail Park Nicollet’s ambition Minnesota’s Park Nicollet health system is often held up as one of the leading “lean healthcare” examples in the U.S. As I mentioned in my book, Lean Hospitals, the system claimed $7.5 million in…
By Dean Bliss: One of the big challenges we have as Lean people is to get beyond presentations, classes, and posters, and get to the real work done by the real workers. At our hospital system, we’re learning a technique…
Lean Leap to Health Care #8 (click for Part #7) by Scott McDuffee “When a baby is born, a pleasant chime can be heard throughout the hospital and smiles come across the faces of all who hear.” Now dated, I…
Highlights from the History of Industrial Engineering and Healthcare: Part 1 Wanted to share a link to an article I wrote recently for the Society for Health Systems newsletter. The article begins: For those who are new to the fields…
I blogged recently about a radio ad from the Detroit Medical Center trumpeting their technology and patient safety efforts. In my further travels, I saw this billboard (from a hospital that’s a competitor of a client… and no, I won’t…
Toyota Is Tightening Its Belt – NYTimes.com The words don’t appear directly in the article, but the RSS blurb for this article (repeated in many “Tweets” and RSS feed news sources) reads: “Toyota Tightens Its Belt – In a soft…
I blogged earlier about the Obama administration’s announcement that the healthcare industry is promising $2 Trillion in savings (reduced cost increases) over the next 10 years. Hooray, we set a goal. The announcements were light on how to do this……
Lean Leap to Health Care #6 (click for Part #5) by Scott McDuffee “With this resume, you will never even get looked at from anyone at a hospital,” she said, tossing my resume back at me. “And, what’s a Lean…