Bringing Lean to Healthcare Design

Bringing Lean to Healthcare Design is a webinar presentation on the incorporation of lean principles in the field of healthcare design by focusing on patient and staff needs and altering processes to eliminate waste and consume fewer resources.

So what is lean? Human rights activist Alice Bloch states, "We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves." This statement exemplifies the core of lean principles, based on eliminating waste and providing value for the customer, while consuming the fewest resources. Waste can come in many forms, but recognizing the value desired by the customers requires elimination of unnecessary equipment, supplies and energy. This is imperative in the healthcare industry where spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in history, and where architecture directly affects operations and patient and staff satisfaction. Therefore, planning must focus patient and staff needs.

Bringing Lean to Healthcare Design focuses on the processes needed to provide the right services and resources at the right time and reduce waits and harmful delays for those who receive and give care. It explores the many collaborative tools in place to achieve this planning, including simulation modeling and value stream mapping, which are used to analyze the flow of materials and information throughout the planning process. It includes case studies that exemplify the cost savings and quality improvement that can be achieved by applying lean principles.



Webinar Learning Objectives

• Understand the Path to Creating a Lean Organization
• Understand the cultural background of Toyota and how it directly relates to your healthcare organization.
  
• Be able to connect behaviors with culture.
• Understand the role of transparency in the Lean Organization
  
• Be able to describe several different models for making problems visible including: stopping the line, visual control and simplified data presentation.
• Be able to describe and use several tools for aligning and engaging staff at all levels in improvement.

 

About the Speaker


Jeff Norton, BSME, MSME

Mr. Norton is the Co-Director for the Center for Enterprise Quality and Safety at the University of Kentucky. The Center is responsible for quality and safety throughout UKHealthcare.


Educated with a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois his career has been in 3 distinct, different, yet related business sectors.


IT Consulting - Anderson Consulting -Currently Accenture
Early in his career, Mr. Norton worked as an IT consultant designing and installing packaged and custom computer systems. His clients included Alcoa, Caterpillar, The Chicago Tribune, Solomon Brothers and Boeing.


Manufacturing - The Timken Company
The Timken Company is a Fortune 500 manufacture of bearings and steel. Mr. Norton served in a number of different roles within the company including leading the construction and outfitting of a new plant and working as the Plant Manager in an automotive parts supply plant. As The Plant Manager, Mr. Norton was responsible for all aspects of the business and it was in this role that he honed his skills using the Toyota Production System/Lean.


Health Care - UK HealthCare and Catholic Health Initiatives
For the past 7 years, Mr. Norton has worked at a local and national level to improve health care quality and safety. At the hospital level, he has led a variety of projects to dramatically improve patient care, patient satisfaction, staff satisfaction and bottom line financial results. He has done this by adapting lean techniques to the healthcare environment. This is accomplished by engaging staff and growing leaders. At a national level Mr. Norton co-lead the patient safety activities for a 70 hospital system. Mr. Norton's work has been recognized and published by the Health Care Advisory Board, AHRQ, JCAHO and IHI. Mr. Norton is a frequent speaker at national and local conferences and his practical and tactical approach is geared towards action oriented people.