Kaizen builds the foundation for implementing Lean principles in the organization. Kaizen events are organized as continuous improvement initiatives. They use a variety of Lean tools and practices – including VSM, 5S, poka-yoke, leveling, and kanban – to achieve these goals. This course focuses on kaizen and expands on the basic kaizen concepts covered earlier. The course outlines how to plan, prepare, and implement kaizen events. More specifically, it focuses on the application of kaizen in healthcare and how Lean professionals lead kaizen events in a variety of healthcare settings. Read more

Course Description Lean and Six Sigma are two powerful methodologies with different origins, toolkits, and approaches. When deployed together, they complement each other to multiply the effectiveness of improvement initiatives. Lean Six Sigma brings the combined power of these two approaches to any improvement effort in a healthcare context. Using healthcare examples and applications, this course introduces the basic mechanism of Six Sigma: reducing variation and improving quality through statistical analysis and DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) methodology. It explains foundational concepts and assumptions about how processes work, and how Six Sigma tools can reduce errors in those processes and their outputs. The course examines how the Six Sigma tools and method support Lean in streamlining processes, reducing waste, and increasing efficiency and patient/customer satisfaction. Read more

Lean has been defined as the knowledge driven, customer or patient-focused, continuous improvement methodology through which organizations continuously reduce waste and create value for customers or patients. Lean is now an established improvement approach for world-class healthcare organizations and other industries. There are five principles that are fundamental to Lean. These are value, value stream, flow, pull, and perfection. Lean focused organizations adopt a dynamic framework comprising value identification, value proposition and value delivery for its value creation process. This course explains the five Lean principles and discusses the value creation process with the help of examples and a case study. Read more

Change occurs before, during, and after any Lean implementation. The ability to manage change and overcome resistance to change is fundamental to implementing Lean. Change management helps create the platform for continuous and sustained improvements. It involves transitioning from the current state to a desired future state. This course explains how to understand change and how best to manage it during and after a Lean Implementation. It explains the roles of communication, team building, and leadership in managing the resistance to change that can occur in any Lean implementation project. Read more

Description Lean and project management methodologies are a synergistic match made for tackling the implementation challenges of continuous improvement in a healthcare context. This course explores essential elements and best practices of project management that help teams successfully manage Lean programs and processes in a healthcare organization. It explains the relationship between project, program, and portfolio management; outlines the methodology of project management; and focuses on strategies for managing scope, documentation, risk, and communication in Lean programs. Read more

This course presents PDCA, or more appropriately PDSA in the healthcare context, and A3 as a structured improvement method used in healthcare organizations. The course introduces these tools and presents several examples of their application in implementing change, solving problems, and continuously improving processes in the healthcare sector. It also covers two important team aspects to achieve these goals - team communication and project management. Read more