Improving Patient Care Using Toyota Based Methods

Provides case studies describing how Toyota-based methods and tools work in a healthcare environment Compiles more than 5 years of experiments in several healthcare facilities in the Pittsburgh region and beyond Describes the simple, very specific, steps that these facilities have taken to fix their systems – offering solutions to real problems confronting workers in every day settings Describes setbacks as well as successes, and shows how problems were resolved America’s healthcare system needs to change. Not only does our country spend 16 percent of its gross domestic product on healthcare, but despite spending more than other industrialized countries, our general health lags behind. While we have plenty of data identifying where healthcare in America falls short, we’ve precious little practical, hands-on information about how to fix it. InThe Pittsburgh Way to Efficient Healthcare, Naida Grundenprovides a ingenious and optimistic look at how principles borrowed from industry can be applied to make healthcare safer, and in doing so, make it more effective and less costly. The book is a compilation of case studies from units in different hospitals around the Pittsburgh region that successfully applied industrial principles to the benefit of patients and the satisfaction of employees. The Pittsburgh Way to Efficient Healthcare is written for all healthcare stakeholders – from clinicians to insurers to employers to those who have the greatest stake in healthcare quality improvement, the patients. About the Author Naida Grunden has been a business and technical writer for over 25 years, specializing for the past six years in health and medical writing for the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative. She writes the PRHI Executive Summary newsletter, a publication she founded in 2001 (www.prhi.org). Her work has appeared in publications as varied as the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety and Air Line Pilot magazine. Ms. Grunden received the 2006 Challenge Award from the American College of Clinical Engineering for her article on the VA wheelchair work in Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology magazine. Ms. Grunden completed her B.A. in English at California State University, East Bay, and her secondary English teaching credential at California State University, San Francisco. She lives in Bellingham, Washington. Visit her website at www.NaidaGrunden.com.