Typically entrenched and systemic, healthcare problems require the sort of comprehensive solutions that can only be addressed by a change in culture and a shift in thinking. Applying Lean in Healthcare: A Collection of International Case Studies demonstrates how honest appraisal, intelligent planning, and vigilant follow-up have led to dramatic improvements in a variety of healthcare settings across the world. It teaches us how innovative organizations can find sustainable solutions to seemingly intractable problems by following a path guided by Lean Thinking. Lean methods may not solve every healthcare problem, but as these cases prove, changing a culture rather than personnel results in more effective sustainable change.
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 : Introduction to Lean Healthcare
Chapter 2 : Making It Lean
Chapter 3 : Providing Rapid Access to a Vascular Surgery Outpatient Clinic
Chapter 4 : Reorganizing and Standardizing Supply Rooms Across a Health System
Chapter 5 : A Quick-Start Lean Method to Cut the Clutter and Get Your Hospitals Back into Shape
Chapter 6 : Applying Lean Thinking to the Outpatient Registration Process
Chapter 7 : Establishing a Standardized and Efficient Client Laboratory Supplies Process
Chapter 8 : Improving Accommodation and Organizational Arrangements at an Outpatient Antenatal Clinic
Chapter 9 : Improving Wait Times at a Medical Oncology Unit
Chapter 10 : Minimizing the Time from “Cooking Pot to Patient”
Chapter 11 : A Journey in Lean-Bringing about Change, Improving Quality for the Patient, and Developing the Culture of a Healthcare Organization
Chapter 12 : Process Improvements to Reduce Operating Room Cancellations
Chapter 13 : The Future for Lean Healthcare
Glossary
Editors
Contributors
Index
