Flow/Pull for Lean Healthcare
Course code: HFL
Delivery: Web
Length: 1.5 hour
Do patients want to wait hours in an emergency room, or months for a scheduled medical procedure? No, of course not, ideally, they want to go from one process to the next process - never having to wait. They want, and need, service to flow. When clients have to wait, then the flow of the value stream has stopped.
Basic to Lean is to create processes where there are no stoppages or interruptions. By removing wasteful or non-value activities properly, and increasing the value for the client, we are able to reach this ultimate goal of flow.
This course describes key concepts of ‘flow’ and ‘pull’, including: the relationship of flow to client value, analyzing flow within the value stream, removing barriers to flow, improving layout to support flow, how to create a ‘pull’ environment, and methods for balancing work and facilitating flow.
Audience
Lean: Achieving Flow is an interactive, multimedia, eLearning training program. It is intended for managers, technologists, patient care workers, support staff, and trainers in the healthcare industry who work in, or are transitioning to, a lean workplace.
Achieving Flow for Lean Healthcare Training Course Content
- Flow and the principles of Lean
- Benefits of improving flow for internal and external clients
- Takt time as the measure of client demand, variable demand
- Flow, pull, push, and challenges that impede flow
- Analyzing flow within the value stream
- Process and how batch size affects flow
- Signs of poor flow, value stream map, kaizen events
- 5-S and flow, impact of motion & transport, turnover, errors, extra processing
- Steps to improve layout for flow
- Inventory reduction, workspace design
- Balancing work and facilitating flow
- Appropriate use of pull systems, Kanban, Supermarket
- Heijunka and dealing with fluctuating demand
Modules
- Introduction to Flow
- Analyzing Flow
- Removing Roadblocks to Flow
- Layout for Flow
- Work Balance
