The Lean Healthcare Pocket Guide XL

(Please see the newer version entitled The New Lean Healthcare Pocket Guide XL.) The Lean Healthcare Pocket Guide XL is a collection of Lean tool examples and definitions from healthcare professionals and Lean sensei. It provides easy-to-use and easy-to-understand tools, methods, and concepts based on the world-class Toyota Motor Company. These practices are commonly referred to as Lean. The Lean Healthcare Pocket Guide XL is designed for use as a convenient and quick reference as you learn and implement the Lean tools as they apply to those challenging situations in healthcare. You can put your finger on any tool within a matter of seconds! Find the right tool for the right Lean initiative by using either the Table of Contents or the Lean Healthcare Tool Usage Matrix. A Table of Contents offers an alphabetical list of tools, techniques, and supporting information. The Lean Healthcare Tool Usage Matrix organizes the Lean tools and concepts relative to three important broad Lean philosophies. The philosophies are: Stabilize - It is critical that excess movement of work and variation of process be removed first. It is difficult to apply Lean when variation exists. Standardize - Once an area or a process has been stabilized, formal standards via work rules, charts, and visual controls must be used to further eliminate variation. Simplify - As an organization stabilizes and standardizes processes, it must level the work loads among staff to ensure effective and efficient service is provided to the patient or other healthcare provider. As you continue with the implementation of Lean initiatives throughout this pocket guide, assess, treat, diagnosis, and prevent will be the overriding themes. The following topics are covered: 5S, Continuous Flow, Cycle Time, Document Tagging, Error Proofing, Goals and Outcomes, Goal Card, Healthcare Case for Lean, Interruptions and Random Arrivals, Just-In-Time,Kaizen Events ,Kanbans for Supplies, Leveling, Measurement Techniques, Paper File System, Physical Layout, Pitch, Predictable Outcome, Problem Solving, Pull Systems, Reporting and Communications, Resistance to Change, Runners, Six Sigma, Standard Work, Takt Time, Value Stream Mapping, Visual Controls, Waste, and Work Load Balancing. There are over a dozen case studies demonstrating the use of various Lean tools throughout the guide.