/_media/adv/web/images/2011/20111124_Arthrex_TB-378x82.jpg

Subscriptions

Advertising

Resources

About Us

Contact Us

Create An Account Forgot Your Password?
Trouble logging in or creating an account? click here
Home This Month E-Weekly Newsletter Building a Facility Article Archive Second Opinions
Search:
Benchmarking
General Surgery
Accrediting/Quality
Anesthesia
Code/Bill/Reimburse
Building/Renovating
/_media/adv/web/images/2011/20111226_Soma_LB-154x100.gif
/_media/adv/web/images/2011/20111202_Arthrex_LB-154x100.jpg
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120126_ASP_LB-154x100.gif
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120126_APIC_LB-154x100.jpg
Outpatient Surgery E-Weekly

Contact Congress Over Drug Shortage Issues

A Kentucky congressman is urging surgical facilities to contact their members of Congress and request that they sign his letter demanding changes to...

N.J. Posts ASC Inspection Reports Online

State and federal inspection reports of New Jersey's ASCs are now available online, giving patients an opportunity to make more informed choices abo...

Are Opioids Necessary?

While it's not always practical, or even possible, to eliminate opioids from your post-op pain management regiment, reducing their use in favor of n...

Archive > February, 2008 Vol. IX, No. 2

What Can Your GI Services Learn from Toyota?

Plenty, when it comes to dramatically improving efficiencies.

Liz Dunphy; and Patricia Wilbur

In 2001, Virginia Mason Medical Center was searching for a new management method that could help us achieve our vision to be the quality leader in health care. Through a chance meeting, a Virginia Mason executive began chatting with a Boeing executive about the Toyota Production System. The two discussed how Toyota's system of creating a product without defects and the concept of kaizen, or continuous improvement, could be adapted to the world of health care. And so began our journey. Soon our leadership team was actively researching the Toyota Production System and planning a trip to Japan to learn more. Seven years and several trips later, foreign words such as muda (waste) and poka-yoke (mistake-proofing) are now part of our everyday language. Our gastroenterology department was one of the first departments to benefit from the continuous improvement concepts using what has became known as the Virginia Mason Production System. The results have included dramatic improvements in GI procedure volumes. Here's how we did it.

Sign in to continue reading.
Email Address:
Password:
Categories: Business Management, Gastroenterology, Peak Efficiency
Keywords:
1 Standardize each procedure room.; 2 Improve patient and provider flow.; 3 Free nurses from room turnover.; 4 Instantly communicate room status.; 5 Stop pushing and start pulling.; 6 Increase doctors' efficiency.; 7 Improve scheduling.; 8 Small-batch lab results.; 9 Segregate admission and recovery.; Not done yet; Boeing; Center; Free; Freeing; GI; GI/endo; GI/endoscopy; Improve; Included; Increase; Instantly; Japan; Keeping; Lab; Mason; Mason Medical Center; Medical Center; Production System; Recovery; Results; Segregate; Small-batch; Standardize; Stop; System; Toyota Production System; Toyo... show all keywords
1 Standardize each procedure room.; 2 Improve patient and provider flow.; 3 Free nurses from room turnover.; 4 Instantly communicate room status.; 5 Stop pushing and start pulling.; 6 Increase doctors' efficiency.; 7 Improve scheduling.; 8 Small-batch lab results.; 9 Segregate admission and recovery.; Not done yet; Boeing; Center; Free; Freeing; GI; GI/endo; GI/endoscopy; Improve; Included; Increase; Instantly; Japan; Keeping; Lab; Mason; Mason Medical Center; Medical Center; Production System; Recovery; Results; Segregate; Small-batch; Standardize; Stop; System; Toyota Production System; Toyota's; U-shaped; Virginia Mason; Virginia Mason Medical Center; accompanying; achieve; actively; adapted; added; addition; adjacent; admission; admit; admitted; anticipate; area; arrival; arrive; asked; average; back; backlog; batches; began; benefit; block; blue; bottleneck; case; central; chance; changing; chatting; clean; cleaning; clinic; communicate; compared; completely; complex; concentrate; concept; consecutively; continuous; costs; counted; created; creating; day; days; decrease; defects; delivered; department; departments; determine; direct; dirty; discovered; discussed; distance; distribute; doctors; document; dramatic; draws; drew; duties; easily; easy; eliminate; eliminates; emergent; end; entire; equipment; everyday; executive; extra; feet; final; find; finished; five-chair; floor; flow; focus; foreign; freed; gains; gaps; gastroenterology; green; health; helped; hours; improved; improvement; improvements; included; increased; increasing; information; ink; instituted; interventional; items; kaizen; lab; layout; lead; leader; leadership; learn; light; located; locked; made; management; margin; means; measured; medication; member; method; minutes; morning; moving; muda; narcotics; needed; net; normal; number; nurse; overschedule; paper; part; passed; pathology; patient; patients; pending; percent; person; physician; place; planned; planning; poka-yoke; post-procedure; printed; printing; procedure; procedures; process; processed; product; provide; provider; pulls; pushing; quality; quarter-mile; quickly; ready; reconfiguration; recovery; red; redesigned; reduce; reduction; relieve; reports; researching; reserve; result; resulted; resulting; results; revenue; role; room; rooms; routes; same-day; satisfied; saved; schedule; scheduling; screening; searching; short; signals; significant; single; slots; smaller; solution; specific; spend; spent; staff; start; started; status; steps; store; studied; suite; supplies; supply; system; team; techs; tells; test; therapeutic; time; times; trip; turn; turnover; turnovers; unexpected; urgent; vision; visits; wait; walk; walking; waste; week; white; words; work; world; years; yellow

© Copyright Herrin Publishing Partners LP 2011. REPRODUCTION OF THIS COPYRIGHTED CONTENT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. We encourage LINKING to this content; view our linking policy here.

PRODUCT & SERVICE RESOURCES
Did You See This?
A showcase of products and services geared to make your facility better.

Architects' Showcase
Is a beautiful, efficient new facility in your future?
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120115_Olympus_AR-300x250.jpg
Other Articles That May Interest You
Tenn. Court: No Jurisdiction Over AmSurg Dispute With Former Employee
Judge grants former division president's motion to dismiss ASC company's suit over alleged breach of contract.
CMS Enacting Prepayment Review for Procedures, Equipment
Demonstration program to begin Jan. 1 in selected states.
Study Highlights Importance of Bowel Prep Before Colonoscopy
Patients might complain less if they understood how much it impacts the effectiveness of their screenings.