Lean Thinking for Primary Care

John B Anderson; Heather Marstiller; Kevin Shah

doi:10.1016/j.pop.2019.07.009

Lean Thinking for Primary Care

Prim Care. 2019 Dec;46(4):515-527. doi: 10.1016/j.pop.2019.07.009. Epub 2019 Aug 1.

Authors

John B Anderson¹, Heather Marstiller², Kevin Shah³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke Primary Care, Duke University Health System, 411 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701, USA. Electronic address: john.anderson@duke.edu.
² Duke Primary Care, Duke University Health System, 411 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, Duke Primary Care, Duke University Health System, 411 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701, USA.

PMID: 31655748
DOI: 10.1016/j.pop.2019.07.009

Abstract

Lean thinking is a leadership, management, and operational approach for continuous improvement. Originally pioneered in Toyota's automobile manufacturing, Lean has now been implemented by health care to focus on improving care to deliver the greatest value for patients and providers. Lean thinking embodies 5 key principles that underpin the thinking and behaviors that are consistent with this management approach: respect for people, leading with humility, pursue perfection, embrace scientific thinking, relentless focus on process improvement. Making the transformation to a Lean organization can be supported by a training program comprising a series of Foundation courses that serves as an introduction.

Keywords: A3 thinking; Daily management system; Gemba visit; Leadership; Lean thinking; PDSA; Standard work; Visual management.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Education, Professional
Efficiency, Organizational*
Leadership
Organizational Case Studies
Organizational Culture
Primary Health Care / organization & administration*
Quality Improvement
Total Quality Management