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.
Slowdown’s Side Effect: More Nurses – WSJ.com: Not a Lean article, but a major issue for hospitals is a shortage of nurses. With the economy in its current condition, more nurses are returning to work. There’s still a need for…
reportonbusiness.com: Asking ‘why’ again and again is harder than you think, but it works It’s kind of neat to see a column about the “5 whys” method in a general business publication (link above). The consultant and professor in the…
Health Care: Loving Lean — Seattle Business Monthly It’s so nice to see a Lean overview article, yet alone Lean healthcare, that doesn’t use the “Lean and Mean” cliche in the headline. This is a story from Seattle that discusses…
B.C. considers radical shift in hospital funding, based on patients treated This is something that I just recently learned about the Canadian health system — you don’t get paid more (as a hospital) for treating more patients. That’s really shocking,…
Factories Fading, Hospitals Step In – WSJ It’s inevitable — as manufacturing jobs decline and our population ages, more people will shift from manufacturing jobs into healthcare. (Free version of article here) BANGOR, Maine — In this aging manufacturing region,…
Star-Telegram.com: | 04/28/2008 | Trapped in a waiting game at JPS Update: For those who didn’t catch the update to Monday’s post, it was announced that the CEO will be leaving, with somewhat of a sliver parachute, I guess. The…
Why do you need a “be careful” warning message when you’ve already error proofed something? For liability’s sake? I am going to be flying back and forth to the UK a lot this summer, so I needed an airplane power…
Update 5/1/08: The CEO is being forced out, “retiring” in September Star-Telegram.com: | 04/27/2008 | JPS patients get shortchanged as cash surpluses keep growing Secondary article summarizing some of the problems I linked to this on Monday and I’m revisiting…
JPS patients get shortchanged as cash surpluses keep growing This linked article is a preview of what I’ll be blogging about next. I’m trying an experiment in posting an article first… what comments do you have? Don’t worry, I’m not…
Last week, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Norman Bodek in person for the first time. After all of our podcasts and electronic correspondence over the years, this was a real treat. I had a chance to chat…
St. Luke’s adopts business approach to efficiency | Houston Chronicle Here’s a nice case study / profile article in the news about St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas. The first photo caption has a great example of using Lean…
A reader sent this picture from a hospital restroom. I’m not sure if the reader is a patient parent or a hospital employee. They asked, “Why are we putting it on the parents to remind doctors to wash their hands?…