Austin Book Launch Party for Lean Healthcare Expert Mark Graban’s Healthcare Kaizen

July 10, 2012 - PRLog -- WHO:  Lean healthcare expert Mark Graban, co-author of Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements (out June 27)

WHAT:  Book launch party. Join Mark Graban and several local doctors, healthcare leaders, and entrepreneurs for food, beverages, and networking for those interested in improving healthcare. We will have a mix of healthcare professionals and "lean thinkers" from outside the healthcare industry.  Healthcare Kaizen will be available for purchase and signing.

WHEN:  Wednesday, July 11 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (CENTRAL).

WHERE:  Four Seasons (Residences) Austin - Skyline Room on the 32nd Floor (98 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, Texas).  All attendees must be on a guest list 24 hours before the event – press can RSVP at http://kaizenaustin.eventbrite.com.

WHY:  To celebrate the launch of Healthcare Kaizen.  Over the past seven years, Graban has worked in dozens of healthcare facilities to help implement lean practices.  Healthcare Kaizen focuses on the principles and methods of daily continuous improvement, or “Kaizen,” for healthcare professionals and organizations. Kaizen is a Japanese word that means “change for the better,” popularized by Masaaki Imai in his 1986 book KAIZEN and through the books of Norman Bodek, both of whom contributed introductory material for this book.
Healthcare Kaizen shares some of the methods used by numerous hospitals, including Franciscan St. Francis Healthcare, where changes were made to save about $2 million a year, as well as improvements to quality, patient safety, patient satisfaction, and staff engagement.  Most importantly, the book covers the management mindsets and philosophies required to make Kaizen work effectively in a hospital department or as an organization-wide program.
All of the examples in the book were shared by leading healthcare organizations, with many full-color pictures and visual illustrations of Kaizen-based improvements that were initiated by chief operating officers, nurses, housekeepers, and other staff members at all levels.
Healthcare Kaizen will be helpful for organizations that have embraced weeklong improvement events, but now want to follow the lead of ThedaCare, Virginia Mason Medical Center, and others who have moved beyond just doing events into a more complete management system based on “Lean” or the “Toyota Production System.”
EARLY REVIEWS: “Healthcare leaders need to read this book to understand that their management role must radically change to one of supporting daily kaizen if quality safety and cost are to improve in healthcare” —John Toussaint, MD, CEO, ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value.  “Healthcare Kaizen is a practical guide for healthcare leaders aspiring to engage frontline staff in true continuous improvement. Graban and Swartz skillfully illustrate how to foster and support daily continuous improvement in health care settings” —John E. Billi, MD, Associate Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Michigan.  “Front line staff must know, understand, embrace and drive Kaizen and its tools to achieve incremental and continuous improvements. This book will help health care organizations around the world begin and advance their journey”  —Gary Kaplan, MD, FACP, FACMPE, FACPE, Chairman and CEO, Virginia Mason Medical Center, and Chairman of the Board, Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Published by Productivity Press, Healthcare Kaizen is a 408-page paperback that retails for $59.95.  Editorial copies are available upon request or consumer copies may be purchased by visiting Amazon.com.  For more information, please visit www.hckaizen.com.

ABOUT MARK GRABAN:
Mark Graban is the author of the Shingo Award-winning book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement and the upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements.  He is also the founder of LeanBlog.org and Chief Improvement Officer of KaiNexus, a software startup.  With a background in engineering and manufacturing, Graban has worked exclusively in healthcare since 2005 where he applies “lean” and Toyota Production System principles to improve quality of care and patient safety, to improve the customer/patient experience, to help the development of medical professionals and employees, and to help build strong organizations for the long term.  For more information, please visit www.MarkGraban.com.