In the Lean community (and in businesses and hospitals, as well), people often talk about “fire fighting” in a colloquial way. Today, my guest for episode #278 of the podcast is an actual professional fire fighter, Tom Bouthillet (@tbouthillet on Twitter). He serves as Fire Captain / Paramedic for the Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue where he is the Cardiac Care Program Manager (STEMI and CARES Site Coordinator).
In this episode, we discuss the role of Lean and process improvement in fire departments and EMS, why blame is “completely ineffective” as a strategy, why “unsafe supervision” is a problem (and what that means), and why it's necessary to build in quality instead of just inspecting for quality.
Streaming Player (Run Time 50:58)
For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/278.
Topics and Links for this Episode:
- Tell us about your professional background and career
- What are the duties of a “fire captain?”
- How did you get exposed to Lean and process improvement?
- What does Lean mean to you, EMS professionals, and fire fighters? What are the benefits to them, to the public?
- How are checklists used?
- Last week, I tweeted about a hospital lab not being willing to add a new test because it would increase their budget even though it would reduce cost for the hospital overall… silo thinking (can't blame them for managing their budget, this is a system design issue)
- You raised a more disturbing scenario involving EMS taking a patient to the hospital with a suspected STEMI heart attack… a scenario when a cardiologist might refuse to bring a patient back to the cath lab… can you explain this? Why would this happen?
- Links with Tom's work:
For earlier episodes of my podcast, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS, through Android apps, or via Apple Podcasts. You can also subscribe and listen via Stitcher. Please leave us a review and rating!
Thanks for listening!
Podcast Summary
You can also read and download this 4-page PDF summary of the podcast:
Images / Quotes to Share
Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Let’s work together to build a culture of continuous improvement and psychological safety. If you're a leader looking to create lasting change—not just projects—I help organizations:
- Engage people at all levels in sustainable improvement
- Shift from fear of mistakes to learning from them
- Apply Lean thinking in practical, people-centered ways
Interested in coaching or a keynote talk? Let’s start a conversation.
