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While it started out in a manufacturing setting, Lean has proven particularly useful to service-based organisations and markets like healthcare. Central to Lean is a spotlight on the Customer. Lean aims to have the institution run on the principle of continually boosting value to the customer.

Normally Lean is appropriately identified with removing the numerous sorts of waste within processes that commonly are not productive and non-value adding, however Lean ought not be regarded as only a method or program to reduce costs; rather it really is a manner of thinking strategically about the processes that comprise the organization and in what way they fulfill the customer’s requirements.

Lean: Roots and Progression in Healthcare

Lean in Health Care cannot be mentioned without first examining how “Lean” comes about – organizational/process improvement techniques. The modern history of improvement methodologies can easily be followed back to Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin with its interchangeable parts, to Henry Ford and his JIT (just-in-time) auto manufacturing strategy, and Alfred P. Sloan at General Motors. Each made contributions and developed the ideas and methodologies that permitted manufacturers to provide a product valuable to customers. Additional milestones included early time and motion tests by Frederick Taylor, human motivation and attitude studies by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and applied statistics from W. Edwards Deming. Deming’s research contributed profoundly to Toyota’s Production System, where Lean principles were created. Extra learning and enhancements to organizational effectiveness are found in Total Quality Management, Business Process Reengineering, Zero Defects, and Quality Circles, and others.

Lean has helped force a reconsideration of who the customer is in healthcare. Undoubtedly common sense says the customer is the patient, but if we examine the plethora of highly complex processes available and the problems healthcare organizations and providers face, one will discover that frequently the patient is even more at the effect of the system than the beneficiary of a satisfying experience. Luckily, some health care organizations have oriented themselves to become truly patient-centric and by making use of lean principle, are leading to great advancements in productivity, cost reductions, patient flow, quality and patient safety, space and inventory needs, and best of all, overall patient outcomes.

The principal concept of Lean is to eliminate the “8 Wastes” seen among all organizations. The 8 Wastes are as follows:

Very often in the health care industry, services can take an extremely roundabout path in getting delivered to the customer. Processes are commonly made up of “work arounds” that were put in place mainly because they compensated for a specific breakdown at a specific point in time – and it became part of “the way it’s done here.” As processes grow to be more elaborate, they are likely to get further away from the customer, and there are increased handoffs and errors. The dilemma that Lean asks is: “Is there a more effective way to get from here to there?” By comprehending the 8 Wastes and the way they appear in health care situations, organizational leaders can get started reviewing the processes as a component of the entire service driven by the “pull” of the customer, and can begin to optimize the value stream that delivers on an organization’s assurances.

Lean’s Outstanding Benefit to Healthcare and its Leaders

Lean gives significant power to healthcare leaders to cope with the ongoing escalation in costs as a consequence of wasteful practices and by offering best practices and standard methods of working in various environments. There are essential principles in Lean Thinking that we’ll investigate in forthcoming articles. As based on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, key areas that must definitely be tackled:

Leadership: Adopting Lean Thinking is not for those who are faint of heart. It cannot be done piecemeal, but must be a complete system strategy.

Culture: Requesting individuals to recognize waste in the work they may be performing and are invested in is difficult; it entails clear vision and unarguable leadership dedication as the sets of values and beliefs change so that a new “lean” culture can emerge.

Culture: Asking individuals to detect waste in the work they may be undertaking and are invested is challenging; it necessitates clear vision and unarguable leadership commitment as the values and beliefs change so that an innovative “lean” culture can arise.

For practical education and invaluable insight into applying Lean and Six Sigma into your healthcare organization, visit Lean Six Sigma Simplified and begin your journey towards improving your business.