Articles, Commentaries and Other Publications

"Ambiguity and Workarounds as Contributors to Medical Error"
Spear DBA, MS, MS, Steven J., and Mark Schmidhofer MD, MS.  Annals of Internal Medicine April 19 142.8 (2005).
http://www.annals.org

"Leading Lean: A Canadian Healthcare Leader's Guide" 
Fine, Benjamin A., Brian Golden, Rosemary Hannam, and Dante Morra.  Healthcare Quarterly 12.3 (2009).
http://www.longwoods.com/content/20877

"Mistake-proofing the design of health care processes"
(Prepared under an IPA with Berry College).  Grout J.  AHRQ Publication No. 07-0020. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; May 2007.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/mistakeproof/

"Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative: A Systems Approach For Achieving Perfect Patient Care" 
Sirio, Carl A., Kenneth T. Segel, Donna J. Keyser, Edward I. Harrison, Jon C. Lloyd, Robert J. Weber, Carlene A. Muto, D. Geoffrey Webster, Vickie Pisowicz, and Karen Wolk Feinstein.  Health Affairs September/October 22.5 (2003).
http://content.healthaffairs.org 

"Why Are We Still Underperforming?" 
Toussaint, John.  Frontiers of Health Services Management 26.1. 

3 Reports: Tool for Process Improvement
Sobek, Durward K and Jimmerson, Cindy, Proceedings of the Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Houston, 2004
http://www.coe.montana.edu

Achieving Real Results with Six Sigma
Sherman, Joyce, Healthcare Executive, Vol. 21(1) January/February 2006 pp. 9-10, 12-14

Addressing Variation in Hospital Quality: Is Six Sigma the Answer?
Woodard TD, Journal of Healthcare Management, Vol. 50(4) July-August 2005 pp.226-36.
http://www.ache.org/pubs/jhmsub.cfm

Applying the Toyota Production System: Using a Patient Safety Alert System to Reduce Error Furman, Cathie and Caplan, Robert, The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, Vol. 33(7) July 2007 pp. 376-386.
http://www.jointcommission.org

A Critical Look at Lean Thinking in Healthcare Young, TP and McClean, SI, Quality and Safety in Healthcare, Vol. 17(5) October 2008 pp. 382-386. http://qshc.bmj.com/content/vol17/issue5/

Fixing Health Care from the Inside, Today, Spear, Steven J, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 83(9) September 2005 pp. 78-91.
http://hbr.org/2005/09/fixing-health-care-from-the-inside-today/ar/1

Lean Thinking for the NHS
UK NHS Confederation, by Daniel Jones and Allan Mitchell, Lean Enterprise Academy, 2006.
http://www.leanuk.org/pages/download_article.htm

Organizational Change through Lean Thinking
Tsasis, Peter and Bruce-Barrett, Cindy, Health Services Management Research, Vol. 21(3) August 2008 pp. 192-198.
http://hsmr.rsmjournals.com

Reducing Waste and Errors: Piloting Lean Principles at Intermountain Healthcare
Jimmerson, Cindy, Weber, Dorothy and Sobek, Durward K, The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, Vol. 31(5) May 2005 pp. 249-257.

Removing ‘Waste’: Getting Down to Essentials through a Lean Design Process
Holmes, Scott and Schowengerdt, Dan, Health Facilities Management, Vol. 21(3) March 2008 pp. 41- 44.
http://www.sc-flow.com/notes.htm

Six Sigma in Health Care Management and Strategy
Carrigan, Martin D and Kujawa, David, Health Care Manager, Vol. 25(2) 2006 pp. 133-141.
http://journals.lww.com

A Toolkit for Redesign in Healthcare
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, September 2005.
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/toolkit/toolkit.pdf

Books

Improving Healthcare Quality and Cost with Six Sigma
Trusko, Brett E., Carolyn Pexton, Praveen Gupta, and Jim Harrington. Reader. Print. http://www.ftpress.com

Kaizen for Lean Healthcare
Jackson, Thomas L. CRC Press, 2010. Print.
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439841525;jsessionid=
VQhaxrSTbBJFN4qUOEye6g**

Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction
Graban, Mark. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2009. Print.
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/1420083805

Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation
Womack, James P., and Daniel T. Jones.  New York: Free, 2003. Print.
http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Thinking-Banish-Create-Corporation/dp/0684810352