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.
Listen My guest for episode #149 is Gregory Jacobson, MD, the co-founder and CEO at KaiNexus. We’ll be talking about his early work with Kaizen in emergency medicine settings – how did he get introduced to Kaizen principles and how…
Dr. Robert Wachter has a great column in today’s USA Today: “Column: Gregory House M.D.: RIP” and it’s republished on his blog, with its own comment section. I wrote a comment, which is awaiting moderation, and I’ll repost it here….…
Episode #148 is a conversation with a returning guest, Naida Grunden (previous episode) and her co-author Charles Hagood (of Healthcare Performance Partners), talking about their new book Lean-Led Hospital Design: Creating the Efficient Hospital of the Future. It’s an outstanding…
After meeting him at a conference a few years back, I consider Patrick Anderson, executive director of Chugatchmiut, to be a good friend in the Lean world. He graciously endorsed Healthcare Kaizen, as he is working hard to create a…
Thanks to blog reader Justin Lewis for sending me a link to a post on his hospital’s blog — from Memorial Health System in Colorado Springs: “Lean Effort Pays Big.” Justin leads Memorial’s “Lean Team” and shared their success story.…
I had an article published in a California newspaper and it will hopefully be picked up by others. The headline is “Scared to Death: Worry about hospital errors, not pink slime.” The article starts: The public is continually subjected to…
I don’t have any first hand experience with the country, but I have had many requests for the free first chapters of my books (Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen) from Saudi Arabia over the past few years. I’m certain there…
Here are links to some more articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest related to Lean, systems, and improvement. The “good news” stories are the last two, of course… AIM: False STEMI activations lead to costs, inappropriate cath…
This article from the Vancouver Sun caught my eye: “Outbreaks show the vital role of hospital cleaners.” The article is written by a union official (which is disclosed at the end of the piece). The author, Bonnie Pearson, is right…
There’s a new TED conference video from April 2012 featuring Dr. Atul Gawande, author of amazing books including The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.” The core of the video will be familiar if you remember my blog post…
Here are links to some more articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest on a number of Lean related topics: Twin boys die after morphine overdose (understaffing, poor training, & other system issues) Two years on, gov’t says…
Update: The charity auctions that ended last night raised $420 for Friends of the Orphans. Thanks to all who bid and bought (and donated – Martine Ehrenclou, Kaizen Institute, and 5S Supply). Color coding is a frequently-used visual management method…