SAN DIEGO– The Mentor, Train and Evaluate (MTE) program, led by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), brought their knowledge and capabilities to the West Coast for the first time, with a visit to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) from Aug.14-18, 2023. The primary goal of MTE is to strengthen […]

I want to talk about the current state of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma initiatives as it relates to sustainment. The Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) conducts annual surveys on the subject of how well Lean implementations are going. Considering the last three surveys (2004, 2005, and 2006), the results do not paint a […]

I want to share a story about a very powerful and influential gift that was given to me… a copy of ‘The Goal’ by Eli Goldratt. As I read ‘The Goal’ I began to visualize how I could apply the many lessons I had read about. I asked myself, “Could I actually utilize Goldratt’s teachings […]

Today Many put the start of the quality revolution with the NBC Television’s show “NBC White Paper.” On June 24, 1980 Lloyd Dobbins introduced W. Edwards Deming to America in an episode entitled: If Japan can… Why can’t we? The show addressed how Deming’s advice on continuous process improvement and recognizing that manufacturing is a […]

Beginning January 7th I will be leading a team of hospital employees working on a problem in the Emergency Department (ED) of their hospital.  There is a metric that is tracked which measures the length of time from when the patient enters the Emergency Department until the medical screening exam begins by the physician known […]

Troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan and impending cuts in number of troops directed by the DoD has created an urgent need for business transformation within the VA hospital system that supports our veterans after they have transitioned back to civilian life.  Among the various improvement strategies for the VHA is the Systems Redesign, which […]

In previous issues of this series, we have explored the importance of linking healthcare process improvement endeavors with organizational strategy, obtaining leadership buy-in, decision-making based on data and analysis, and the appropriate scoping of projects and events. Even with all those things in place, there is one common mistake that can cause a deployment to […]

Implementing a focused and structured program for healthcare performance improvement is a huge step that requires a great deal of thought and numerous decisions. One of the most difficult decisions seems to be whether or not to dedicate full time resources as practitioners. In the resource constrained environment that most healthcare organizations operate in, there […]

I’m not sure exactly how many Wonka Bars that Veruca Salt’s army of workers opened up to find her golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but she certainly had many more opportunities than Charlie, whose family only had enough extra money to spare for one just one shot at his dream. When it comes […]

‘Epiphanized’ by Bob Sproull and Bruce Nelson quickly landed on Amazon’s Best Sellers List as national executives and managers search for professional guidance on how to survive and operate a profitable business in a tumultuous economy.