The World Health Congress

“I’ll bet, Curmudge, that during your professional career you attended a lot of meetings and conferences.”

“I sure did, Jaded Julie. Although I found the short courses associated with the conferences to be most valuable, I also tried to observe some of the local culture when the meeting was held in an exotic location. Let me tell you about what I saw as I walked down Bourbon St. in New Orleans one Halloween night.”

“You may, but not in Kaizen Curmudgeon. I understand that several of our newer colleagues recently attended the World Congress on Excellence in Health Care.”

“They did, and after their return they reported on the high points of the conference. My perception is that they brought home a strengthened conviction that Lean is the right culture for Affinity and that we are progressing well on our Lean journey. In fact, we are among the leaders in Lean health care. When a speaker asked—regarding the focus of his presentation—‘Who is doing this?’, our people could proudly raise their hands to signify, ‘We are.’”

“How about some examples, Old Guy. I presume since this meeting was held in Chicago, their examples will be free of New Orleans-style rowdiness and debauchery.”

“Not a problem, Julie. I believe that the essence of the presentations may be discerned by the following statements and quotations:

‘Philosophy—Patients and families first. Then support our people.’

‘Waste comes cleverly disguised as a lot of work.’

‘Lean is lead from the top down; change from the ground up.’

‘The first day of a kaizen event is usually a food fight, i,e., lots of blaming and finger-pointing.’

‘There is an affinity between Lean and Green.’

‘In their personal behavior, employees must distinguish between being on-stage (in view of patients and visitors) and off-stage (out of view).’

‘Lean is a part of the strategic plan (sounds like hoshin-kanri).’

‘Report-outs must be attended by everyone.’

‘The Joint Commission (TJC) is working to improve their consistency of standards interpretation (anyone who has been audited by anyone should appreciate that).’

‘The middle manager is no longer a problem solver but a facilitator of problem solving.’

‘Overlaying a new technology on a bad process is like shrink-wrapping a cactus.’”

“I think I understand, Curmudge. These statements are all familiar or obvious to us. They represent problems that we have solved, or are working on, or that we are aware of and need to work on. To someone totally new to Lean, they might be confusing. To an experienced ‘Leaner,’ they are an inspiration. Come to think of it, that’s what a conference is supposed to be—an inspiration.”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon

Note: An observation on the practice of emergency medicine in a primitive location may be accessed via this link.