Applying Lean in Healthcare : A Collection of International Case Studies

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. Front Cover 1 Contents 4 Foreword 6 Acknowledgments 8 Chapter 1 - Introduction to Lean Healthcare 10 Chapter 2 - Making It Lean 22 Chapter 3 - Providing Rapid Access to a Vascular Surgery Outpatient Clinic 34 Chapter 4 - Reorganizing and Standardizing Supply Rooms across a Health System 48 Chapter 5 - A Quick-Start Lean Method to Cut the Clutter and Get Your Hospital Back into Shape 64 Chapter 6 - Applying Lean Thinking to the Outpatient Registration Process 82 Chapter 7 - Establishing a Standardized and Efficient Client Laboratory Supplies Process 96 Chapter 8 - Improving Accommodation and Organizational Arrangements at an Outpatient Antenatal Clinic 124 Chapter 9 - Improving Wait Times at a Medical Oncology Unit 142 Chapter 10 - Minimizing the Time from “Cooking Pot to Patient” 164 Chapter 11 - A Journey in Lean—Bringing about Change, Improving Quality for the Patient, and Developing the Culture of a Healthcare Organization 176 Chapter 12 - Process Improvements to Reduce Operating Room Cancellations 188 Chapter 13 - The Future for Lean Healthcare 206 Glossary 218 Editors 226 Contributors 228 Back Cover 234 Introduction to lean healthcare Making it lean Providing rapid access to a vascular surgery outpatient clinic Reorganizing and standardizing supply rooms across a health system A quickstart lean method to cut the clutter and get your hospital back into shape Applying lean thinking to the outpatient registration process Establishing a standardized and efficient client laboratory supplies process Improving accommodation and organizational arrangements at an outpatient antenatal clinic Improving wait times at a medical oncology unit Minimizing the time from 'cooking pot to patient' A journey in lean : bringing about change, improving quality for the patient, and developing the culture of a healthcare organization Reducing surgery cancellation rates The future for lean healthcare. 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. This book shows how honest appraisal, intelligent planning, and vigilant follow-up have led to dramatic improvements in a variety of healthcare settings across the world.