TL;DR: Lean improvement depends on asking both “why?” and “why not?” Leaders who challenge assumptions and refuse to accept “we’ve always done it this way” unlock innovation in patient safety, flow, and quality. Asking “why not?” turns barriers into design…
My guests for Episode #328 are Bette Gardner and Jeff Heil, of the company Breakthrough Learning. Bette is the creator of a fantastic simulation called “Friday Night at the ER” — which I’ve blogged about. When we recorded the webinar,…
Actually being a patient in the emergency department is a learning experience, to say the least. I've done that twice in the past twelve months (two cases of really bad stomach flu with high fever). I don't recommend this if you can avoid it.
What I do recommend is an interactive learning experience called "Friday Night at the ER."
More about that in today's post...
If a practice aims for "ideal care," how can there be so much waste and waiting one day, followed by a perfect waste-free visit the next? What are your experiences with care and delays in clinic settings?
I saw this recent article from Malaysia:
LEAN Healthcare: Reducing patient waiting times, one small step at a time
They put Lean in all caps... it's not an acronym.
Anyway, back to the article. Their ministry of health is trying to reduce the typical department length of stay number from five hours to something shorter. And Lean is something they're using to help...
Here is the headline from the Dallas Morning News: "How Toyota improved Parkland Hospital's ER -- with purple lights."
I'll give credit to Dr. Fred Cerise, the CEO of Parkland Memorial Hospital, for reaching out to Toyota and TSSC for help...
I saw this headline the other day about University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas: “UMC finds savings through waste“ The headline really should say “through waste reduction.” Reducing waste is, of course, a good thing. Reducing waste usually saves money…
Let's start by stating the obvious: it sucks to wait 24 hours or more on a stretcher in an emergency department hallway waiting for a real hospital bed. It's sad and frustrating to have a couple of blog readers from Canada send me this story from Quebec:
Quebec wants 24-hour cap for patients waiting on stretchers in ERs
Barrette says there would be consequences for hospital staff, doctors who don't comply
I think there's agreement that waiting 24 hours, 12 hours, or four hours for a bed after an admission is a problem. That's a problem worth working on.
This article in The Wall Street Journal caught my eye the other day: "Can Tech Speed Up Emergency Room Care?" But, it seems like the real story is process redesign, which is barely mentioned in the story...
Patients waiting too long for the E.D. is a problem around the world. Many U.S. hospitals put up billboards that claim to shed light on how long you'll have to wait. But are the signs and numbers more confusing than helpful? Does it matter?
tl;dr: Lean doesn’t mean “zero inventory” — and it doesn’t mean eliminating waiting rooms either. In both manufacturing and healthcare, low inventory and less waiting are outcomes of capable, reliable processes, not goals to chase through absolutes. For decades, manufacturers…
I’m always happy to see success stories where healthcare organizations solve problems that matter through Lean concepts, practices, and principles. Today, I’m blogging about two articles I saw about this recently. One of the problems that needs to be solved…
