Tag: Canada

This article was sent by a friend and blog reader from Winnipeg the other day: "ER wait times down, but only slightly" Oh good, the waiting times are down. But what does "only slightly" mean? Have ER wait times gone down in a meaningful way? Or are they just comparing two data points? Is this "down" a matter a signal or is it just noise in the system? These are the types of questions that can be answered by methods in my new book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More.

Joining me for Episode #307 of the podcast is my friend Andre DeMerchant, the President of DeMerchant Healthcare Solutions Inc., based in Kitchener, Ontario. We first crossed paths when we had the chance to work together with an American healthcare client via our then-affiliation with Pascal Dennis and Lean Pathways.  In today's episode, we talk about Andre's history working for Toyota in Canada and what he learned there -- and why it's important that he learned about "how flow works" at Toyota. We chat about the terms "Lean" and "The Toyota Production System" and what those words mean to him. How does TPS "transcend culture and language," as well as industries? We then shift to talking about healthcare and some of the common challenges, including "financial hardships," that are faced in many countries. Why are hospitals "poorly prepared for change" in many cases? Another main theme is "cost cutting" and why you can't cut your way to success. 

Let's start by stating the obvious: it sucks to wait 24 hours or more on a stretcher in an emergency department hallway waiting for a real hospital bed. It's sad and frustrating to have a couple of blog readers from Canada send me this story from Quebec: Quebec wants 24-hour cap for patients waiting on stretchers in ERs Barrette says there would be consequences for hospital staff, doctors who don't comply I think there's agreement that waiting 24 hours, 12 hours, or four hours for a bed after an admission is a problem. That's a problem worth working on.

Today at 3 PM, I'm doing a webinar at the invitation of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, as part of their "Quality Café" series. Thanks for the invitation! It's open to the public and it's titled: "Standardize What Makes Sense... Then Engage Everybody in Improving What You Standardized" I hope you can join us...

I'm always happy to see success stories where healthcare organizations solve problems that matter through Lean concepts, practices, and principles. Today, I'm blogging about...

Today's podcast is presented with a heavy heart, after the recent passing of my friend Dr. Michel Téatrault, the CEO of St. Boniface General Hospital and a great Lean leader. He was a friend to many in the Healthcare Value Network and the broader Lean healthcare community. As I was remembering Michel, it occurred to me

Today, I'm sharing a 10-minute video that was shared by the Five Hills Health Region within the Saskatchewan health system. In the video, Heather, the director...

I was thankful to find this CBC Radio news story / podcast from the program "White Coat Black Art," hosted by Dr. Brian Goldman: The...

I was recently interviewed by one of the reporters who put together this web article in Canada: "From the factory floor to the emergency department:...

There have been plenty of headlines and updates since I first blogged about the controversy over Lean healthcare in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan...

In 2009, I wrote about a nurses' union in New Brunswick that supported Lean because they realized this methodology could help reduce waiting times and...

Since the healthcare improvement work I do is apolitical and non-partisan, I'm generally not one to butt into the political affairs of Canada or...