Lean Just Keeps Popping Up!

Our Lean project had detoured the last year or so due to a change in hospital leadership. Remodeling in the Lab was stalled and our Lean project began to drift.

Today we had a management team meeting on the results of our hospital's AHRQ Survey on Patient Safety Culture. We had taken the survey first in 2009, and then again this year, 2011. The 2009 results were never shared with the management team, and to no surprise, the 2011 results were pretty much unchanged. Like I said, we had a change in leadership, so there was some lost time last year where not much happened in our organizational development.

We began to discuss the next steps in improving our culture of patient safety and guess what, 'Lean' was mentioned! It was mentioned in the context of department quality work groups and the process improvement cycle. Time to dust off our templates and begin again.

Yes, that 'Lean' just keeps popping up. Just like the flowers in the Spring. Once a seed is planted, the growth is inevitable. With a little water and fertilizer maybe we will see some growth this time around.