Leading Edge Group Store

"Well begun is half done" goes a popular saying. That's why it's so important to carefully plan and initiate your Lean activities. This course covers identifying improvement opportunities in your organization; understanding the value chain; identifying patients and clients, and what is important to them; and project initiation activities. Tools such as SIPOC, the Voice of the Customer, and Critical to Quality are introduced. The course also outlines steps in developing a project charter, and securing alignment with project stakeholders. Read more

“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them” said one of the greatest scientists of all times - Albert Einstein. Lean practitioners use a number of tools and apply several strategies to solve problems on their Lean improvement projects. This course introduces the problem solving frameworks applied to healthcare services. A number of Problem Solving tools such as the Five Whys, Root Cause Analysis, Fishbone Diagram, and Brainstorming are discussed in the course. Read more

Many Lean implementations involve value stream mapping (VSM) to establish where and how improvements can be made in process flow and over quality. Lean tools that promote order in the workplace and prevent defects, mistakes, and errors also help improve process efficiency, and therefore optimize flow. This course introduced Lean tools and practices that can be used to reduce variation and improve quality in healthcare organizations. It explains the perils of variation in healthcare processes, and outlines basic steps for successfully implementing Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Quality at the Source, Mistake proofing/poka-yoke, and Total Quality Management (TQM) techniques. Read more

Organizational transformation is a long-term goal, and only happens when an organization’s strategic capabilities are built and sustained over a long period of time. Sustaining Lean improvement requires an employee-supported Lean culture, timely communication, interlocking leadership involvement, and the capacity to wield a variety of control and monitoring tools. This course surveys the key constituents of a Lean culture, and introduces tools and systems used by leading organizations both to maintain improvements and continually reach for more. The course examines tools and practices such as leader standard work, huddles, Andon, control plans, performance audits, Lean documentation, and statistical process control (SPC). Read more

Kaizen focuses on the principles and methods of daily continuous improvement, and builds the foundation for implementing Lean principles in the organization. Kaizen events are organized as the continuous search for opportunities for all processes to get better. Kaizen uses Lean tools and practices such as 5S, poka yoke, leveling, and Kanban to achieve these goals. This course focuses on Kaizen. It introduces key Kaizen concepts, types, and Kaizen events. The course outlines the requirements for an efficient Kaizen event and describes the benefits that a successful Kaizen event can offer to healthcare organizations. Read more

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is arguably the most important tool in Lean. It involves a process of directly observing the flows of information, patients, and resources as they occur, summarizing them visually, and then envisioning a future state with performance addressed. This course focuses on creating and using current and future value stream maps for healthcare organizations. It expands on the basic concepts relating to VSM and discusses how they can be applied practically in a healthcare organization. The steps to create actual value stream maps are covered, along with how to perform the analysis to make improvements. Read more