The Evolution of Lean Education at Affinity 2

“Curmudge, you promised to start today’s discussion with one of your illogical-and-funky-but-true tales from long ago.”

“Albert Einstein would occasionally visit Professor Hubert Alyea’s lectures on physical chemistry at Princeton University. When the professor made a particularly important point in his lecture, he would look to the back of the room and see Einstein’s white head nodding in approval. Alyea’s tacit and illogical conclusion was that if Einstein understood, everyone in the class would understand.”

“I’ll admit that your story is nonsensical, but does it have a parallel in our teaching of Lean?”

“Sure, Jaded Julie. If you can design a course that is viewed as worthwhile by a physician, it will be worthwhile for everyone.”

“Well Curmudge, it took you a long time to point out that several physicians have attended our one-day Lean Overview class, and they haven’t gotten up and walked out. For docs to view something as valuable, it must help their patients, their practice, or their personal life. Lean should do all three. Our congrats to the course designers and presenters.”

“Julie, in my professorial days I taught for just 50 minutes several times per week. Standing before a class for almost eight hours would require exceptional concentration and physical stamina. Our Lean presenters have to make that sacrifice in order to cover the Lean essentials in a one-day time period acceptable to physicians and others who require a basic knowledge of Lean.”

“From my experience I know that nurses follow the physicians’ lead. That’s why physicians—especially those in a position to influence others—must learn the Lean basics. One cannot do anything of real significance in a hospital or clinic without the understanding and support of the physicians. So Curmudge, just what is in this one-day blockbuster Lean Overview course?”

“Everything…sort of. The principles and most of the tools of Lean; they are familiar to most of us and don’t need to be recited here. However, it’s important to note that it would be futile to attempt to cover every detail of Lean manufacturing discussed in The Toyota Way and The Toyota Way Fieldbook.”

“I agree. It would be sort of like insisting that one study the Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek.”

“In addition to the Lean manufacturing classics, there are several books available now that are devoted exclusively to Lean in health care. These would be efficient resources for the course presenter and appropriate for the students’ further reading.”

“Okay, Curmudge, some examples please.”

“One might use Graban’s Lean Hospitals as a how-to-do-it fieldbook. For case studies on ‘how we did it,’ read Grunden’s The Pittsburgh Way, Toussaint’s On the Mend, and Kenney’s Transforming Health Care (about Virginia Mason Medical Center—just published). Of course, one could remain a strict purest and stick to the classics on manufacturing, but that’s a route I haven’t followed. When I was a student I might have used ‘Cliff’s Notes,’ but they hadn’t been invented yet.”

“Thanks for being a paragon of virtue, Old Guy. So in addition to appropriate resources, are there other features of the Lean Overview course that are worthy of mention?”

“The handout booklet of PowerPoints has space beside each slide for the student to take notes. When the presenter makes a point that’s not on the slide, the student should feel compelled to write it down. That keeps the brain engaged in moving one’s fingers and hopefully paying attention in class. Another valuable feature of the course is the showing of the video, Hospitals Healing Themselves. That should convince the students that Lean in health care is for real. And finally, the students put to use what they have learned in a simulated process that they perform, study, and improve. Recall the quotation from Benjamin Franklin, ‘Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.’”

“If you haven’t already forgotten them, do you have any final thoughts?”

“Lean education at Affinity is a good example of kaizen—continuous improvement. The courses are continuously being revised and improved. Stay tuned for updates.”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon