Lessons from Lean - Quality

Paraphrased from Shigeo Shingo:
1. Improvement involves never accepting the status quo;
2. Work is more than people in motion;
3. Perceiving and thinking are not the same.

Does this sound like how quality improvement works in your healthcare organization?
Or, do you think that the status quo is not only accepted but nutured and encouraged.
Or, does activity and scheduled meetings (regardless of outcome) qualify as legitimate work?
Or, are the decisions made on intuition and hunches as opposed to facts and thoughtful research?

One of the more recent fads in healthcare quality improvement comes from Toyota of Japan; known as Lean. A more fundamental reform comes when we look in the mirror and honestly answer the above questions and willingly accept the consequences of never accepting the status quo, creating real work with the comensurate joy that comes from pride of craftsmanship and engaging our brains to think deliberately and effectively.