Patient safety doesn’t improve through punishment, vigilance posters, or telling people to “be more careful.” It improves when leaders design safer systems, support speaking up, and focus on learning instead of blame. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on patient safety through a Lean lens—exploring medical errors, near misses, psychological safety, leadership behaviors, and how healthcare organizations can reduce harm by fixing systems rather than blaming individuals.
In a recurring feature, here are links to some more articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest: Luxury car program brings cancer patients to treatment in style (KVUE-TV, Austin) – a great non-profit effort started by a former…
Here are links to some more articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest during my blog break (somewhat of a break): John Toussaint’s new book: Potent Medicine: The Collaborative Cure for Healthcare Premier touts Saskatchewan’s ‘lean’ health-care gains…
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,…
Here are links to some more articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest on a number of Lean related topics: THE MORE THE MERRIER (The New Yorker) – “But there’s a strong case to be made that corporate…
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,…
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…
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…
March 4 to 10 has been “Patient Safety Awareness Week” from the National Patient Safety Foundation. I’m certainly in favor of patient safety and have worked tirelessly, as have others, to try to improve patient safety from its abysmal starting…
This made news on Wednesday – Dr. Donald M. (Don) Berwick stepped down as CMS Administrator: “Harvard professor Don Berwick resigns as Medicare chief.” I had supported Dr. Berwick… but it didn’t really mean much because I’m not a U.S.…
The more I visit different hospitals, the more I tend to roll my eyes at the different signs that aim to remind staff and/or visitors to follow proper hand hygiene practices. These signs are often part of an arms race…
People in healthcare know that miscommunications are a major cause of errors and patient harm. There was a strange footnote to game 5 of the World Series, where the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2. A miscommunication led…
