Congrats To Surfergrrl!
It's been a busy couple of weeks, so the congratulations are a little belated. Surfergrrl is one of the three regular readers and commenters here at Water Cooler Wisdom. She just earned a promotion to a very interesting and important position as a Lean Production Specialist in Primary Care Leadership (good luck fitting that on your business card) at Park Nicollet. What is that? Well, basically, Surfergrrl has been tasked with identifying and eliminating the waste and inefficiencies in their healthcare system. To do so, she will be studying Toyota's Lean Model and integrating the Lean Model into the health care world -- a pioneering endeavor.
According to Surfergrrl, she is the youngest person to be selected for this role. She is deservedly both proud and appreciative. Below is an excerpt from and a link to a story run on WCCO a couple of weeks back discussing the Lean Model project.
Armed with stopwatches, step counting, clipboard and lists, the staff at Methodist Hospital is finding ways to be more efficient healthcare providers. They are looking for waste, which could be red tape, travel, talent or time.
"You have everyone from housekeeping to physicians to the vice president of the facility all working on the same team," explained Dr. Mike Seim, with the Emergency Center at Methodist Hospital.
The model is called lean production. By Day Four, a battle plan is being drawn. There are pie charts, diagrams, flow charts and reams of data. The group is also authorized to take action.
...
"Typically, right now, we average three hours for any patient that comes through," said one team member. The goal is to cut that time in half and increase patient safety.
...
Methodist has already started passing the savings along. For example, fees for uninsured patients were just cut 10 percent.
Surfergrrl -- I don't envy your task. Being charged with cutting waste out of the healthcare process is a little like being charged to solve world hunger. You can always make improvements, but you'll never quite get there. Good luck and congrats! I expect updates.
According to Surfergrrl, she is the youngest person to be selected for this role. She is deservedly both proud and appreciative. Below is an excerpt from and a link to a story run on WCCO a couple of weeks back discussing the Lean Model project.
Armed with stopwatches, step counting, clipboard and lists, the staff at Methodist Hospital is finding ways to be more efficient healthcare providers. They are looking for waste, which could be red tape, travel, talent or time.
"You have everyone from housekeeping to physicians to the vice president of the facility all working on the same team," explained Dr. Mike Seim, with the Emergency Center at Methodist Hospital.
The model is called lean production. By Day Four, a battle plan is being drawn. There are pie charts, diagrams, flow charts and reams of data. The group is also authorized to take action.
...
"Typically, right now, we average three hours for any patient that comes through," said one team member. The goal is to cut that time in half and increase patient safety.
...
Methodist has already started passing the savings along. For example, fees for uninsured patients were just cut 10 percent.
Surfergrrl -- I don't envy your task. Being charged with cutting waste out of the healthcare process is a little like being charged to solve world hunger. You can always make improvements, but you'll never quite get there. Good luck and congrats! I expect updates.
posted by Nordeaster | 10:07 AM
1 Comments:
WOW ... for once I'm speachless. Many thanks to my pal nordeaster for the props. I'll bring ya some Saki when I complete my training in Japan next year - I still owe you a GIRLY drink anyway!
;)
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