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.
It hasn’t quite reached the level of hysteria as “pink slime,” but I’ve seen an inordinate amount of attention being given to the issue of McDonald’s being located inside hospitals. A group of physicians have encouraged hospitals, especially children’s hospitals,…
Hello from Las Vegas, where I participated in a wonderful event yesterday, the Lean Healthcare PowerDay. Here are a few key quotes: “That cry for more is really a cry to fix our processes.” – Naida Grunden, co-author of the…
I’m in Las Vegas, speaking today to close the Lean Healthcare PowerDay event. There are many great speakers, including Dr. Richard Shannon, Dr. David Munch, and my good friend and fellow author, Naida Grunden. Click on their names to listen…
Here is a link to a story that caught my eye: “Wait times shrink in Brockton hospitals’ emergency rooms.” The good: “time spent waiting to see a doctor in emergency rooms at Brockton’s hospitals is down, according to officials and…
Back by popular demand, here are links to some more articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest on a number of Lean related topics: Potent Medicine Delivers a Treatment Plan for U.S. Health Care (new book from Dr.…
Here’s a great video of Paul O’Neill, former CEO of Alcoa and former U.S. Treasury Secretary, talking to healthcare leaders about their leadership role in improving quality and patient safety. You can listen to my earlier podcast with him here.…
Here are links to some articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest: Can Hospital CEOs Be Team Players? (H&HN News) Preventing Hospital Blunders (Science 2.0) Rise of the Medical Expertocracy (WSJ) At Weschester Medical Center, executives get raises,…
Every few years, we see news articles about virtual reality robots that will roam hospital hallways – delivering medicines or supplies or allowing remote physicians to examine and communicate with patients in far-off locales who might not otherwise get to…
My friend Mike Thelen, who works in the dairy industry, has a guest post I’m going to publish next week talking about the seemingly unfounded hysteria over so-called “pink slime” that has been in the news recently. I was nauseated…
This is all somewhat preliminary, but I’ve been talking to the folks at the Kaizen Institute about helping organize a study trip to Japan, aimed at Lean Healthcare professionals. The trip might take place in the second half of 2012…
Just heard on CNN, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts: “… Congress had a balanced intent. You can’t look at another provision and say this promotes patient protection without asking if it’s affordable.” Unfortunately, it seems the Chief Justice…
Under Blog Break rules, I’ll just post this article that I was quoted extensively in: “Author: Hospitals can use lean techniques to drive improvements instead of dysfunction,” published in MedCity News. There is one slight error in the piece, where…