FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9, 2010

Laboratory Latest Lean Team

at Brockville General Hospital.

Brockville—On June 28, and 29th, three staff of the Brockville General Hospital laboratory participated in a Kaizen session as part of the on-going Lean management initiative at the hospital. A Lean organization understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. Simply put, “Lean” means creating more value for customers while maximizing resources.

The goal for the lab was to map the flow of specimen from collection to delivery to the lab.

“Right now the phlebotomists enter the orders into the Quadramed system, collect the samples and deliver them to the lab,” explains Lab Manager Susan Pugh. “We are currently changing that practice to have nursing doing order entries and blood draws, while porters deliver the specimens to the lab.  Mapping out the flow in the Kaizen session provided an opportunity to identify an efficient process to ensure timely delivery of specimens to the lab and timely reporting,” adds Pugh. “The lab will receive specimens in a continuous flow and not in ‘batches’ in the new model of care.”

 “Kaizen” (Japanese for "improvement" or "change for the better") refers to practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes. It has been applied in healthcare, government, banking, and many other industries. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen aims to eliminate waste. Lean thinking has been traced back to the early days of Toyota as something called the “Toyota Production System” (TPS).  The recognized ‘father’ of lean was Taichi Ohno, the Toyota executive who developed TPS following WWII in Japan.  The term “lean” wasn’t popularized until 1988 when an MIT Masters student used it in the title of his thesis.

BGH adopted the Lean initiative several years ago, and has been slowly implementing it through the departments such as Food Services (food tray preparation), Surgical Services (supply management), Discharge Planning (bed management), and Health Records (electronic communication with primary care organizations).

“I had previously read about Lean projects and was anxious to see what and how we could benefit from this project,” says Senior Lab Technician Verna Graves. “When [Lab Manager] Susan Pugh asked me to participate in the Kaizen session, I was very excited.  I found the experience quite enlightening and our group has already implemented some of the results.”

BGH Chief Financial Officer Steve Read feels it is encouraging to see a team of employees come together to analyze and make tangible improvements to their own processes.

“The Lab Kaizen team has implemented process improvements that will increase patient safety and efficiency, and contribute to the achievement of our mission,” says Read. “Lean thinking and the application of Lean principles allow for a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating all activities that don’t add direct value to the patients.”

 

Lean on me—here, Mike Boucher, Senior Advisor at the Kaizen Institute, provides process feedback to Lab Manager Susan Pugh, Laurie Schroeder and Verna Graves.


For more information, please contact:

Maggie Wheeler Communications Officer BROCKVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL 613-345-5649 Ext. 1-1504

Healthy people – Outstanding Care

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