Chapter 12
Getting Started with Lean
How Do We Start?
Some awareness and understanding of Lean concepts is just the beginning. Knowledge without action will not bring results for patients and other key stakeholders, so it is time to look at how to get started with Lean in your hospital.
The goal should be learning from the examples set by others rather than blindly copying Toyota or leading hospitals. For any organization, be it a factory or a hospital, there is no simple programmatic approach for adopting and practicing Lean methods and transforming a culture. Every health system or individual hospital has its own starting point, its own starting point culture, and its own goals and needs.
Richard Zarbo, MD, DMD, senior vice president and ...
