"Healthcare Kaizen" receives prestigious Shingo award.
Unleashing the energy and creativity of every employee to solve problems everyday should be the sole focus of every healthcare leader.
San Antonio, TX (PRWEB) June 19, 2013
The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence, part of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, has selected “Healthcare Kaizen” by Mark Graban and Joseph Swartz as a recipient of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award. Graban is the chief improvement officer at KaiNexus as well as the founder of LeanBlog.org. Swartz is the director of business transformation at Franciscan St Francis Health.
“Receipt of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award signifies authors’ significant contribution to the body of knowledge surrounding operational excellence,” said Robert Miller, executive director of The Shingo Prize. “The intent is to motivate others to learn from them.”
“Healthcare Kaizen” shares some of the improvement methods conducted by physicians, nurses and other clinicians in numerous hospitals around the world, including Franciscan St. Francis Health. Furthermore, the book covers the management mindsets and philosophies the authors claim are required to make “kaizen,” or the continuous search for process improvement opportunities, work effectively in a hospital department or as an organization-wide program.
“Unleashing the energy and creativity of every employee to solve problems everyday should be the sole focus of every healthcare leader,” said John Toussaint, MD, CEO of ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. “Unfortunately, there are only a handful of examples where this is happening. ‘Healthcare Kaizen’ provides examples of front-line staff coming up with solutions to problems on their own and implementing them. 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.”
By “challenging” or applying for an award, authors invite a group of accomplished professionals and trained examiners from The Shingo Prize to thoroughly review their publications. The examiners select the publications they think are worthy of recognition.
Graban and Swartz will receive the award during the opening social of the 26th Annual Shingo International Conference held in Sandusky, Ohio the week of May 5-9, 2014. The opening social is the beginning of this five-day event featuring a selection of workshops, plant tours, keynote speakers and breakout sessions designed to provide ongoing knowledge, insights and experience for organizations in their pursuit of operational excellence.
About The Shingo Prize
The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence is named after Japanese industrial engineer, Shigeo Shingo. Dr. Shingo distinguished himself as one of the world’s thought leaders in concepts, management systems and improvement techniques that have become known as the Toyota Business System. Drawing from Dr. Shingo’s teachings, The Shingo Prize helps companies and organizations increase their efficiency and effectiveness by developing cultures that continuously strive for improvement. It also awards and recognizes organizations that demonstrate exceptional results from applying its philosophy and recognizes authors who have contributed important insights and applications of the principles it teaches. Those interested in more information about The Shingo Prize may visit http://www.shingo.org.