These podcast episodes focus on Lean thinking as it applies to healthcare leadership, patient safety, quality, and culture. Conversations with physicians, executives, researchers, and improvement leaders explore how systems design, psychological safety, and daily leadership behaviors shape outcomes for patients and staff.
Rather than promoting tools or slogans, this archive highlights real-world experiences from hospitals, health systems, and healthcare innovators working to build safer, more reliable, and more humane systems of care.
Joining me for Episode #340 of the podcast is Dr. Joy Furnival CEng MIET, an experienced senior NHS manager, improvement leader, and chartered engineer. I first crossed paths with Joy at a Lean healthcare event in England back in 2007.…
Joining me for Episode #339 of the podcast is Charles Protzman, author of a great number of Lean healthcare books. Today, we are talking about a book that he wrote for a broader audience, The BASICS Lean Implementation Model: Lean…
My guest for Episode #338 is Mr. Grey Dube, the Chief Executive Officer at Leratong Hospital. He has over 40 years’ experience in the public service, including time as CEO at the hospital since 2005. Leratong Hospital is an 855…
It’s my second straight podcast with a healthcare CEO. This time, joining me for Episode #337 is Vance Jackson, FACHE, FACMPE, the President & CEO of Davis Health System, based in Elkins, West Virginia. Vance and I talk about how…
My guest for Episode #336 is Gladys Bogoshi, the Chief Executive Officer at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, one of the ten central hospitals in South Africa and the main teaching platform of the University of the Witwatersrand. The Hospital…
Joining me today for Episode #329 of the podcast is Mike Eisenberg, the director, editor, and producer of the film “To Err is Human,” a documentary about the incredibly important issue of patient safety. The film shares a title with the…
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,…
My guest for Episode #327 of the podcast is Marc Rouppe van der Voort, Ph.D., who is joining me from Utrecht in the Netherlands. We first met back in 2009 when he invited me to come speak at a Dutch…
Joining me from Sweden for Episode 318 of the podcast is Marcus Hammarberg, author of the fascinating book Salvation: The Bungsu Story: How Lean and Kanban saved a small hospital in Indonesia. Twice. And can help you reshape work in your company.
Marcus is a software developer, consultant, lean/agile coach, speaker, and author. He ended up with an opportunity to work with a hospital in Indonesia and he tells that compelling story in the book. How did a huge hole in the roof help trigger a change in culture and results? You'll hear about that and more in this episode. I hope you enjoy it and find it inspirational, as I did.
My guest for Episode #317 of the podcast is Patricia Morrill, a speaker, trainer, consultant, researcher, and author of the book The Perils of Un-Coordinated Healthcare: A Strategic Approach toward Eliminating Preventable Harm.
With 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, she has focused on blending operational efficiencies with healing environments. Patricia has successfully integrated Lean and Project Management methodologies with organizational strategic goals to build roadmaps for execution. Check out her website and her blog.
In today's episode, we discuss her personal story about her mother's death that came as the result of a preventable medical error. What can be done to prevent medical errors, harm, and death?
Today I have two guests joining me for Episode #314 of the podcast. They are Skip Steward, the Chief Improvement Officer at Baptist Memorial Health Care in Tennessee and Brandon Brown, the owner and "Master Kata Coach" of his firm, Continuous Coaching Commitment, LLC.
In this episode, we discuss their use of methods such as "Training Within Industry" and "Toyota Kata" in the important work of healthcare improvement. Skip and Brandon both have backgrounds in manufacturing, but they have been able to translate Lean skills and mindsets into healthcare. We'll also talk about their dynamic as consultant / client and how the roles of "coach" and "learner" are often very situational and how we can be both at different times.
Joining me again for Episode 310 is Stephen M. Shortell Ph.D., MPH, MBA. He is Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professorship, HPM and is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health.
He was previously a guest on Episode 267 talking about the establishment of the Center for Lean Engagement and Research (CLEAR) at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is the director.
In this episode, we talk about some initial research that they released in a paper that was published in The Joint Commision Journal on Quality and Patient Safety:
"Use of Lean and Related Transformational Performance Improvement Systems in Hospitals in the United States: Results From a National Survey"
