Measuring Lean Results In Healthcare
Over the last couple years, we have been working with Healthcare organizations to adapt Lean to their complex processes in laboratory and hospital environments. Predictably, there was much skepticism from Clinicians and administrators alike – and rightly so. They were perfectly justified in asking – ‘how does a thinking that grew mainly out of the automotive industry apply to the healthcare environment’
The answer is, ‘it applies perfectly’.
read moreDo You Use Quality Improvement Throughout Your Site
A healthy body-what a wonderful thing! It is wonderful both for the patient and the physician. It is a well- integrated system of smoothly functioning parts. This marvelous organism allows the owner-the patient-to enjoy his life and participate vigorously in it. On the other hand, a body in which some ‘parts’ are not functioning well can cause a lot of problems. We in the medical field know this of course. What we don’t often realize is how much like an integrated body our office or medical site is. Is your site in great shape or are their chronic problems cropping up frequently
In my experiences with primary care offices and hospitals I have found few in great health. I believe that one of the reasons is the medical view of quality. It is almost always focused on patient centered measures or clinical measures. For instance, in the highly touted book Crossing the Quality Chasm, most of the recommendations for improvement center on patient measures-transparency and timely delivery of care, for instance. In one group of healthcare providers that I communicate with most of the talk about quality focuses on delivery of care to chronically ill patients. From the perspective of the CEO of one local company which manufactures auto parts and which loans its Lean expertise to local hospitals, They just don’t get it.
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