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.
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?…
Leaner, but Not Meaner | workforce.com It’s always nice to see a headline NOT using the cute (but usually inaccurate) “lean and mean” construct. It’s especially nice to see it in the context of a smaller hospital, Meadows Regional Medical…
JS Online: Tending to improvements in health care Here’s a nice overview article about the Lean efforts of the ThedaCare health system in Wisconsin. Some highlights: ThedaCare estimates that its work to improve efficiency in 2005 and 2006 cut costs…
To build a better hospital, Virginia Mason takes lessons from Toyota plants A number of you emailed me about the above article that was featured in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about Virginia Mason Medical Center, a hospital that’s seen as one…
I don’t know how many of you are LinkedIn users, but I’ve found it to be a very helpful and professional networking tool. If you’re a member and want to connect on there, just let me know in your invite…
Sometimes, I have a collection of news stories or links that I either don’t have time to blog about, assume you don’t have time to read about, or don’t really merit a full blog post. So my “WIP” of “draft”…
Dennis Quaid Recounts Twins’ Drug Ordeal, Actor Tells 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft Medical Errors Kill Thousands – CBS News Did you see the actor Dennis Quaid on 60 Minutes last week? He talked about the sad case where his twin…
I got a question from a reader and Theory of Constraints fan: “One of the topics that I’m struggling with is the relationship between Kaizen and TOC. When Norman Bodek talks about the savings people have gotten through Kaizen, does…
Sometimes people ask me, “how does Lean apply in a hospital?” The critical issues in a hospital are more often about culture and environment (although using technical lean methods for improving processes and flow are important also). Many hospitals, unfortunately,…
