Tag Archives: Health care

ER Checklist

Posted on March 13, 2009 by John Hunter

The popular ER TV show highlighted the importance of using checklists in surgery yesterday. Such powerful quality tools, like the checklist, are just waiting to be used. But far too many fail to use these simple improvement tools. And in … Continue reading →

Applying Disruptive Thinking to the Healthcare Crisis

Posted on February 19, 2009 by John Hunter

Update: Sadly MIT delete the video. It is a shame educational institutions lose interest in knowledge just a couple years later. Thankfully we didn’t have to rely on the people deleting web content at universities to keep all the historical … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Innovation, Management, Management Articles, webcast | Tagged Clayton Christensen, disruptive innovation, Health care, health care system, Innovation, webcast | 3 Comments

The Ergonomics of Innovation

Posted on September 22, 2008 by John Hunter

The Ergonomics of Innovation by Hayagreeva Rao and Robert Sutton the IHI case teaches us that innovations spread quickly when organizations focus relentlessly on selecting and spreading ideas in ways that ease the burden of thought and action for everyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Health care, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged Health care, Innovation, management | Comments Off

Management Improvement Carnival #40

Posted on August 1, 2008 by John Hunter

Mark Graban is hosting the Management Improvement Carnival #40. Mark recently authored a new book, Lean Hospitals. Health care highlights from this carnival include: Hospital Error – Heparin in the news again (The Lean Thinker Blog): “I am reasonably certain … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Health care, Management | Tagged blogs, Carnival, Health care | 1 Comment

Drug Price Crisis

Posted on March 18, 2008 by John Hunter

In 2005 I posted about some of the problems with drug pricing. It is nice to find at least a couple of people at MIT that want to have MIT focus research on the public good instead of private profit. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Economics, Health care, Science | Tagged commentary, economy, Health care, Science | 3 Comments

USA Spent $2.1 Trillion on Health Care in 2006

Posted on February 20, 2008 by John Hunter

The percent of GDP spent on health care in the USA increased again in 2006 – to 16%. Health care spending reached a total of $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per person in 2006, up from $6,649 per person in 2005. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged economic data, Health care | 5 Comments

Measuring the Health of Nations

Posted on January 8, 2008 by John Hunter

Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis In a Commonwealth Fund-supported study comparing preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries, researchers found that the United States placed last. While the other nations improved dramatically between the two study periods … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, UK | Tagged economy, France, Health care, Japan, USA | 5 Comments

Stratification and Systemic Thinking

Posted on January 6, 2008 by John Hunter

I am reading a fascinating book by Jessica Snyder Sachs: Good Germs, Bad Germs. From page 108: At New York Hospital, Eichenwald and infectious disease specialist Henry Shinefield conceived and developed a controversial program that entailed deliberately inoculating a newborn’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Deming, Health care, Innovation, Management, Quality tools, Science, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged critical thinking, Data, evidence based management, Health care, Science, Statistics, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Great Visual Instruction Example

Posted on December 14, 2007 by John Hunter

This does a great job of explaining what you need to know clearly. While this presentation for Azithromycin doesn’t prevent a mistake it sure makes it much more likely that the process can be completed successfully. We need more effort … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management, Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged Health care, Lean thinking, poka yoke, usability, visual instructions | Comments Off

The Power of a Checklist

Posted on December 7, 2007 by John Hunter

Great article on The Checklist – If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do? by Atul Gawande A decade ago, Israeli scientists published a study in which engineers observed patient care in I.C.U.s for twenty-four-hour … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged checklist, Deming, Health care, Lean thinking, management tools, Systems thinking | 4 Comments