Tens of thousands of patients die unnecessarily every year as a result of errors and defects in our healthcare processes. Those that survive often pay too much for the privilege. The value stream mapping methods described in Mapping Clinical Value Streams will help you achieve more efficient health care processes and will pave the way to an improved medical system with significantly reduced medical errors and other costly waste.Part of the Lean Tools in Healthcare series, this user-friendly book will help you understand how to use value stream mapping to provide quality, patient-centered care. Value stream mapping is a powerful tool for observing and depicting processes as they truly are and for envisioning and reconfiguring the same processes to eliminate errors and other waste. With this book, you‘ll learn how to:Map current-state processesCreate a future-state map with processes streamlined through flow and pullManage the rollout of your future state with A3 project plansPresented in a highly organized and easy-to-assimilate format, the book includes examples from actual healthcare processes, plus numerous illustrations and margin assists that call your attention to key points. Value stream mapping icons make it easy to see and understand the ebb and flow of healthcare processes. Each chapter also includes a summary for quick review. Throughout the book you will be asked to reflect on questions that will help you apply these concepts and techniques to your own workplace.To be competitive in today‘s marketplace, you cannot afford to leave processes unexamined, or let them become haphazard. You must apply conscious, quality attention to continuously see and fix your healthcare processes. In Mapping Clinical Value Streams, Shingo Prize-winning author Thomas L. Jackson shows you how.

In no industry is the concept of quality more essential than it is in healthcare, which is why the lean quality principles learned through the example of the Toyota Production System are so applicable. Two fundamental principles of Toyota‘s push for excellence are especially relevant to healthcare: ensuring quality at every step and keeping improve

Is Lean a fit for your healthcare organization? Various methodologies can be used to help organizations achieve their objectives depending on their criteria: lowest risk of failure, fast to resolution, or lowest cost for deployment. But what every organization should consider is which methodology will have the greatest impact. Lean, a systematic approach to understanding and optimizing processes, may be the fit for your organization. Learn more in this new IBM® RedpaperTM publication, A Guide to Lean Healthcare Workflows, by Jerry Green and Amy Valentini of Phytel (An IBM Company). The paper delves into the five steps of Lean: Define value from the patient's perspective Map the value stream, and identify issues and constraints Remove waste, and make the value flow without interruption Implement the solution, and allow patients to pull value Maintain the gain, and pursue perfection It describes each step in-depth and includes techniques, example worksheets, and materials that can be used during the overall analysis and implementation process. And it provides insights that are derived from the real-world experience of the authors. This paper is intended to serve as a guide for readers during a process-improvement project and is not necessarily intended to be read end-to-end in one sitting. It is written primarily for clinical practitioners to use as a step-by-step guide to lean out clinical workflows without having to rely on complex statistical hypothesis-testing tools. This guide can also be used by clinical or nonclinical practitioners in non-patient-centered workflows. The steps are based on a universal Lean language that uses industry-standard terms and techniques and, therefore, can be applied to almost any process.

With 14 new definitions touching on management, healthcare, startups, manufacturing, and service, the 5th edition of the Lean Lexicon, is the most comprehensive edition yet of the handy and practical glossary for lean thinkers. The latest Lexicon, updated in 2014, contains 60+ graphics and 207 terms from A3 Report to Yokoten. The Lexicon covers such key lean terms as andon, jidoka, kaizen, lean consumption, lean logistics, pull, plan-for- every-part, standardized work, takt time, value-stream mapping, and many more. The new terms are: • Basic Stability • Coaching • Gemba Walk • Huddle • Kamishibai Board • Kata • Leader Standard Work • Lean Management • Lean Management Accounting • Lean Startup • Problem Solving • Service Level Agreement • Training Within Industry (TWI) • Value-stream Improvement Unlike most other business glossaries in print or online, the Lexicon, introduced in January 2003, is focused exclusively on lean thinking and practice. Like the past four, the fifth edition of the Lean Lexicon incorporates terms and improvement ideas from our customers. We continue to welcome suggestions from the growing lean community in its traditional industries and beyond.

With the growing business industry there is a large demand for greater speed and quality, for projects of all natures in both small and large businesses. Lean Six Sigma is the result of the combination of the two best-known improvement methods: Six Sigma (making work better, of higher quality) and Lean (making work faster, more efficient). Lean Six Sigma For Dummies outlines they key concepts in plain English, and shows you how to use the right tools, in the right place, and in the right way, not just in improvement and design projects, but also in your day-to-day activities. It shows you how to ensure the key principles and concepts of Lean Six Sigma become a natural part of how you do things so you can get the best out of your business and accomplish your goals better, faster and cheaper. About the author John Morgan has been a Director of Catalyst Consulting, Europe's leading provider of lean Six Sigma solutions for 10 years. Martin Brenig-Jones is also a Director at Catalyst Consulting. He is an expert in Quality and Change Management and has worked in the field for 16 years.

To compete successfully in today’s economy, organizations need to be as good as or better than their global competitors. This goes not only for quality, but also for costs and cycle times (lead time, processing time, delivery time, set-up time, response time, etc.). Lean addresses these needs in its emphasis on teamwork, continuous training and learning, produce to demand (“pull”), mass customization and batch size reduction, cellular flow, quick changeover, and total productive maintenance. Originally applied in manufacturing settings, lean has now migrated to non-shop floor activities: in business support functions, such as sales, customer service, accounting, human resources, engineering, purchasing; within manufacturing firms; and also in purely service areas like finance, government, and healthcare. The intended audience for this book is any quality or operational professional who wants to start their lean journey or enhance their career opportunities. After introducing the concepts of lean and kaizen, various building blocks of a lean enterprise are described. After reading this book, any reader will have a foundation of what is understood today as "lean." All the examples of kaizens presented in the book are from the authors' experience associated with real lean transformations. In addition, the forms, figures, and checklists included as part of this book and also on the accompanying CD-ROM can be customized and used in the readers’ own lean journey when they perform kaizens. COMMENTS FROM OTHER CUSTOMERS Average Customer Rating: (4 of 5 based on 1 review) "This book gives a great introduction to kaizen, along with a sensible "how to" and several case studies across various industries, including for non-manufacturing applications. It also gives a good introduction to Lean in general, and it places enough emphasis on the "human side" of implementing Lean so that the reader walks away with an understanding that the Lean tools may be fairly simple but the implementation of them requires special attention to human nature and the associated challenges. It is easy to read and comprehend. Plenty of pictures and samples are provided. This could easily be used as a training tool for employees who will be serving on kaizen teams." A reader in Bradenton, Florida

Proven to increase efficiencies in the manufacturing sector, Standard Work has become a key element in reducing process waste, ensuring patient safety, and improving healthcare services. Part of the Lean Tools for Healthcare Series, this reader-friendly book builds on the success of the bestselling, Standard Work for the Shopfloor. Standard Work for Lean Healthcare explains how to apply this powerful Lean tool to increase patient safety and reduce the cost of providing healthcare services. It illustrates how standardization can help you establish best practices for performing daily work and why it should be the cornerstone for all of your continuous improvement efforts. Presented in an easy-to-assimilate format, the book describes work in terms of cycle time, work in process, takt time, and layout. It also: Defines the key concepts of standard work and explores the essential elements of a continuous improvement culture Provides detailed guidance through the process of creating, maintaining, and improving standards Illustrates the application of standardization and standard work in healthcare with a range of examples Includes access to helpful websites and further reading on standardization, standard work, the 5S System, and Lean healthcare A joint effort between the Rona Consulting Group and Productivity Press, this book presents invaluable insights from pioneers in Lean thinking to help you avoid common mistakes that can lead to unnecessary wastes of time and resources. Each richly illustrated chapter includes a chapter summary, reflection questions, and margin assists that highlight key terms, how-to steps, and healthcare examples—making this an essential resource for healthcare professionals starting out on their Lean journey.

This book offers a new perspective on improving healthcare that draws inspiration from sources as diverse as American healthcare history, Lean Six Sigma, patient experience, employee engagement, clinical microsystems, physician burnout, and industrial design thinking. This work focuses on the three value streams that form the foundation of all healthcare service processes: healthcare-worker value stream, patient value stream, and organizational process. The interaction of patients and healthcare workers in the context of these three value streams creates the meaningful experience that is essential to healing and to the success of healthcare organizations. Meaningful healthcare experience design guides the work of designing these value streams and improving them to promote experiences that are meaningful and healing for both patients and healthcare workers.

Accelerating Health Care Transformation with Lean and Innovation: The Virginia Mason Experience describes how Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) has systematically integrated innovative structures, methods, and cultural practices into its implementation of Lean. Describing how an organization can create a strategy and build a culture of innovation and learning, it supplies concrete examples that show how Lean and innovation can work hand-in-hand to improve and transform value streams. It also explains how to use the voices of patients and their families to drive improvement and innovation.

"Perfecting Patient Journeys is a guide for leaders of healthcare organizations who want to implement lean thinking. Readers will learn how to identify and select a problem, define a project scope, and create a shared understanding of what's occurring in the value stream. Readers will also learn to develop a shared vision of an improved future, and how to work together to make that vision a reality"--Provided by publisher.