Over the years I have often been asked what I would do differently if I were to lead another lean transformation. The list is too long to cover in this monthly letter, but I would like to highlight two important learnings that would shape the transformation differently. View this message on Youtube. I would be […]
I am sure at some point in your career you have had to make the argument that lean thinking will work in your healthcare organization. The first time I had this conversation was with my senior executive team some 20 years ago. At that time, I knew we needed to do better but I also […]
Background The Lean management system is being adopted and implemented by an increasing number of US hospitals. Yet few studies have considered the impact of Lean on hospitalwide performance. Methods A multivariate analysis was performed of the 2017 National Survey of Lean/Transformational Performance Improvement in Hospitals and 2018 publicly available data from the Agency for Healthcare Research […]
During this anxious time, it’s hard to make time for new learning. But necessity is the mother of invention. Many of you have been forced to get creative in this time of crisis and it’s that creativity I’m so excited to share. We have a great tradition of shared learning at Catalysis because so many […]
There is a lot of talk out there about continuous improvement and lean thinking. But, do we know what is really at the core of those methodologies? Dr. John Toussaint and Dr. Christina Dixon join Janet today to dig deep into the core of improvement work. It is no secret that many systems struggle to sustain improvement work beyond […]
This year the Lean Healthcare Academic Conference will be a virtual event hosted September 29th and 30th. Since we last convened in October 2019, our organizations and communities have changed. We do things differently and the methods and practices used today may not be fit for purpose to respond to the challenges or opportunities of tomorrow. […]
Dr. Toussaint and host Mark Graban discuss his reflections on his time learning from the late Paul O’Neill, the founder of Value Capture. What does “habitual excellence” mean to him? Why was Paul one of the first people John called when he launched his non-profit organization, Catalysis? Check out the podcast
Before Covid-19 pandemic struck, the U.S. health care industry suffered more than 550,000 work-related injuries and illnesses per year, or 150,000 more than any other industry in the country. Therefore, it is no surprise that health care workers have been harmed at tragic rates during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control […]
By Lisa Yerian M.D. and John Toussaint M.D. There is great concern throughout the U.S. that health systems will not be able to meet the demand of the potential exponential growth of critically ill patients with COVID-19. This is playing out in New York where some hospitals have full ICUs and too few ventilators to […]
In this article, John Toussaint, John R. Griffith, and Stephen Shortell provide a detailed analysis of how the Baldrige criteria can be met using the Shingo model. Lean, Shingo, and Baldrige do not have to be used independently. They can work together to achieve a culture of continuous improvement. Read the full NEJM Catalyst article
