Hospitals learn from Toyota Production System
Tags: lean manufacturing
"The Nun & the Bureaucrat", a new book and documentary, explains how two hospital systems adapted two concepts — systems thinking and the Toyota Production System — from a manufacturing environment to improve activities in more than 60 hospitals. It is a story of a continuous improvement journey, told in the words of the doctors, nurses and hospital administrators who traveled that journey and changed the way they viewed their work.
By seeing patient care and hospital services as a whole rather than as an aggregate of separate parts, they were able to significantly improve patient safety, save lives, reduce costs and increase staff satisfaction. And by adapting ideas from the seemingly unrelated auto industry, the people in this book and DVD learned to use the mind-set and tools behind the Toyota Production System to recognize and eliminate the non-value-creating steps in their processes.
By focusing intently on satisfying the customer/patient, they developed an unusual and successful solution to one of Americas most pressing domestic problems.
Access this 5-minute, 9-second video by clicking on the link below.