Operational Excellence Mixtape: December 6, 2019
Healthcare - Creating Value for Patients
Does Lean "work" in hospitals in the US? Sort of,…
Browsing Tag
Patient Flow
Operational Excellence Mixtape: November 22, 2019
Healthcare - Creating Value for Patients
Healthcare improvement is often done through QI projects in…
Operational Excellence Mixtape: November 8, 2019
Healthcare - Creating Value for Patients
"Imagine walking into a restaurant and being seated.…
A Gemba Visit to a Hospital in Brazil: Huddles, Lean Improvement, and More
When I blogged a summary of my recent Brazil trip, I said I'd write more about my visit to a hospital... so here's…
Lean: A Combination of “Why?” and “Why Not?”
When we have really sticky, complicated problems (like the widespread healthcare patient safety and quality…
Podcast #328 – Bette Gardner and Jeff Heil, Friday Night at the ER
My guests for Episode #328 are Bette Gardner and Jeff Heil, of the company Breakthrough Learning. Bette is the…
Friday Night at the ER: Fun Learning Through a Tabletop Simulation
Actually being a patient in the emergency department is a learning experience, to say the least. I've done that…
A Tale of Two Dental Visits: Frustrating and Ideal
If a practice aims for "ideal care," how can there be so much waste and waiting one day, followed by a perfect…
How a Hospital in Malaysia Solved That Emergency Room Visibility Problem (And…
I saw this recent article from Malaysia:
LEAN Healthcare: Reducing patient waiting times, one small step at a…
Toyota Helps Another Dallas-Area Hospital: The Parkland Emergency Department
Here is the headline from the Dallas Morning News: "How Toyota improved Parkland Hospital's ER -- with purple…
Texas Hospital Saves Money Occasionally With Lean Six Sigma… But Can Do…
I saw this headline the other day about University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas:
"UMC finds savings through…
How NOT to Improve Patient Flow: Laws, Targets, Blame, and Threats
Let's start by stating the obvious: it sucks to wait 24 hours or more on a stretcher in an emergency department…
What Reduced this E.D.’s Waiting Times? Sexy Technology or Process Change?
This article in The Wall Street Journal caught my eye the other day: "Can Tech Speed Up Emergency Room Care?" But,…
Data Without Context Have No Meaning: Emergency Department Wait Time Billboards
Patients waiting too long for the E.D. is a problem around the world. Many U.S. hospitals put up billboards that…
Be Careful With “No Waiting Rooms” Just Like “Zero…
For decades, manufacturers have been tripped up by the simplistic idea that Lean is about "zero inventories." It…
Congratulations on Reducing Waiting Times, But Lean Isn’t Just About Flow or…
I'm always happy to see success stories where healthcare organizations solve problems that matter through Lean…
How Many Exam Rooms Do You Need?
Mark's note: When I first started in healthcare, I worked for a team called ValuMetrix Services, a part of Johnson…
Case Study: Emergency Department (ED) Throughput Improvement Through Lean
Mark's Note: Today's guest post comes via my friends at the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, who suggested…