Biomaterial Database

Can lean save lives? 2007

David Fillingham

Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, Royal Bolton Hospital, Bolton, UK. david.fillingham@rbh.nhs.uk

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this paper is to show how over the last 18 months Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust have been exploring whether or not lean methodologies, often known as the Toyota Production System, can indeed be applied to healthcare. METHODS This paper is a viewpoint. RESULTS One's early experience is that lean really can save lives. The Toyota Production System is an amazingly successful way of manufacturing cars. It cannot be simply translated unthinkingly into a hospital but lessons can be learned from it and the method can be adapted and developed so that it becomes owned by healthcare staff and focused towards the goal of improved patient care. CONCLUSIONS Working in healthcare is a stressful and difficult thing. Everyone needs a touch of inspiration and encouragement. Applying lean to healthcare in Bolton seems to be achieving just that for those who work there.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011785	Quality Assurance, Health Care	Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps.	Quality Assessment, Health Care,Health Care Quality Assessment,Health Care Quality Assurance,Healthcare Quality Assessment,Healthcare Quality Assurance,Quality Assessment, Healthcare,Quality Assurance, Healthcare,Assessment, Healthcare Quality,Assessments, Healthcare Quality,Assurance, Healthcare Quality,Assurances, Healthcare Quality,Healthcare Quality Assessments,Healthcare Quality Assurances,Quality Assessments, Healthcare,Quality Assurances, Healthcare
D006113	United Kingdom	Country in northwestern Europe including Great Britain and the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland, located between the North Sea and north Atlantic Ocean. The capital is London.	Great Britain,Isle of Man
D006779	Hospitals, Public	Hospitals controlled by various types of government, i.e., city, county, district, state or federal.	Public Hospitals,Hospital, Public,Public Hospital
D017598	Efficiency, Organizational	The capacity of an organization, institution, or business to produce desired results with a minimum expenditure of energy, time, money, personnel, material, etc.	Efficiency, Administrative,Productivity, Organizational,Program Efficiency,Administrative Efficiency,Organizational Productivity,Efficiency, Program,Organizational Efficiency,Program Efficiencies
D017749	Total Quality Management	The application of industrial management practice to systematically maintain and improve organization-wide performance. Effectiveness and success are determined and assessed by quantitative quality measures.	Continuous Quality Management,Lean Six Sigma,Sigma Metrics,Six Sigma,Lean Six Sigmas,Management, Continuous Quality,Management, Total Quality,Metric, Sigma,Metrics, Sigma,Sigma Metric,Sigma, Six,Sigmas, Six,Six Sigma, Lean,Six Sigmas,Six Sigmas, Lean
D018581	Technology Transfer	Spread and adoption of inventions and techniques from one geographic area to another, from one discipline to another, or from one sector of the economy to another. For example, improvements in medical equipment may be transferred from industrial countries to developing countries, advances arising from aerospace engineering may be applied to equipment for persons with disabilities, and innovations in science arising from government research are made available to private enterprise.	Research Commercialization,Technology Commercialization,Technology Licensing,Commercialization, Research,Commercialization, Technology,Commercializations, Research,Commercializations, Technology,Licensing, Technology,Licensings, Technology,Research Commercializations,Technology Commercializations,Technology Licensings,Technology Transfers,Transfer, Technology,Transfers, Technology