Introduction to the Lean Hospital

It’s important to start your Lean journey correctly. Our first lesson covers the topic of setting goals and creating a Lean mission and vision. This vision will guide the process improvement activities that will follow, and ensure that you are traveling in the right direction.

Waste is core concept in Lean, and every staff member needs to have a clear idea of what waste actually is, in order to be able to see it and do something about it. In this lesson you will learn about the nine types of waste, with examples of each.

In this lesson you will learn about the seven-step process for achieving a high level of organization and housekeeping in any area of the hospital.

If you don’t fix the root cause of a problem, it will keep coming back. In this lesson you will learn several simple analysis and problem solving tools to get to the root cause, and to prioritize process improvement choices.

We don’t use too many Japanese words in this lesson, but Kaizen is one of them. Kaizen means continuous improvement, and it is one of the most important characteristics of a Lean culture. In this lesson you’ll learn about the two main types of Kaizen, and how to get involved.

Standardization is not a new concept, but it is one of the pillars of a Lean culture. Until you standardize a process, it is not under control and it is difficult to apply improvements to it. In this lesson you’ll review the Lean approach to standard work, and how it applies to the work that you do.

Let’s face it. If you don’t apply what you just learned, this training was useless. In this lesson we cover the options for you to immediately get to work on your Lean effects, and how to learn more about Lean.