DailyKaizen

I returned back home to participate in a rapid process improvement event in one of our specialty care areas: cancer care. After a focus on primary care earlier in the week, a focus on specialty care later in the week was a perfect balance. In our technology / business process innovation work, I think specialists (and the patients they care for) are vital in extending our expertise because they often take care of patients at times of greatest need.

Our cancer care group shares the same leadership as another specialty group we worked with a year ago, and the comment made was that a year later, our team was now noticeably tighter in its execution. This comment was made to me as I was looking at a projected image of the patient care tool the team created in just 2 days - I had not seen us create anything that sophisticated before, and it appeared to be something well within our comfort zone now. Amazing.

I think the team really had no choice but to get this good. There is no better impetus to improve the way you serve than to be continually exposed to those who you are serving. If our team had not been making regular trips to the Gemba, would their techniques have advanced as quickly?

What about the specialists and care teams? They were fully engaged and brought as much compassion to improving the system as they do to their individual patients, even spending time before and during very busy days to be available to help. It is remarkable to me after these experiences that anyone feels that improvement can only happen in spite of doctors, rather than in partnership with them.

What about patients? One of the folks I caught up with this week was Susannah Fox, Ph.D, from the Pew Internet and American Life project. Her team just launched a new web site, e-patients.net (because health professionals can’t do it alone).

This post from that blog provides great context for the idea that everyone has a role in improving the system. Consumer empowered health is not scary in a LEAN environment, because we support leadership at all levels and in every role.

And when we do, good things happen. One of the most impactful moments of this week was when a member of our team told us that she specifically requested that her work cell be assigned to this event. Why? Because she’s a cancer survivor and wanted to give support back to those who supported her. From seeing her work this week, I know she will impact many many patients who come after her.

I think this is the key strength of LEAN in health care, that it unites everyone around the needs of the person we serve, the patient.

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