The Lean Healthcare Dictionary

In today's healthcare economy, with reduced reimbursement and closer scrutiny of quality patient care, the concepts and terminology of Lean management are becoming invaluable to nurses, clinicians, administrators, and other healthcare staff involved in improvement. Conversely, a basic grasp of common healthcare terms is essential for process improvement specialists who aren’t necessary fluent in healthcare terminology.
The Lean Healthcare Dictionary: An Illustrated Guide to Using the Language of Lean Management in Healthcare is designed to bridge the gap between Lean practitioners and healthcare professionals. This comprehensive dictionary defines essential Lean and healthcare terms to help create a common language for anyone involved in Lean healthcare improvement activities.

Providing quick reference to the language of Lean management in healthcare, the dictionary includes diagrams and charts that illustrate concepts and aid in understanding. Each entry in Part I provides a succinct description of a Lean term as used in a healthcare setting. Healthcare terms and acronyms that commonly arise in the course of Lean transformations are defined in Part II.

The content of this dictionary is firmly rooted in the hands-on experience of Rona Consulting Group, whose principals have designed and led groundbreaking applications of Lean management in emergency rooms, operating rooms, labs, hospitals, and major medical centers.

Rona Consulting Group develops healthcare leaders who make things better for patients: safer care, higher quality, fewer waits, and lower costs. Their mission is to transform healthcare leaders into Lean executives who will, in turn, transform their organizations-helping clinicians and staff members pursue perfection in all of their organizational processes. Based in Seattle, Washington, Rona Consulting Group is a Lean consultancy serving the healthcare industry. Rona Consulting Group develops transformational leaders who are capable of educating and coaching their managers, clinicians, and support staff to become a Lean healthcare organization. They are committed to helping healthcare organizations and purchasers of healthcare achieve the highest quality through zero defects, increased patient satisfaction, empowerment of staff, and improvement in financial performance through the application of the Toyota Management System.