Jody Crane, MD: Lean in Emergency Medicine and Hospitals; 3 Big Issues Causing Tough Times in Healthcare

Chief Medical Officer of TeamHealth 

Episode page with video, transcript, and more

Joining us for Episode #468 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Jody Crane, M.D. He's the Chief Medical Officer for TeamHealth, and he was previously a guest for Episode 120.

As a proven leader, Dr. Jody Crane, M.D. is considered one of the leading experts in emergency department operations in the United States. Dr. Crane has taught and led healthcare and emergency department improvement efforts with hundreds of organizations in a wide variety of settings on six continents. In this role, he supports clinical quality and safety and performance improvement initiatives for all clinical service lines.

We're talking today because he's a keynote speaker at the upcoming Healthcare Systems Process Improvement conference, which is brought to us by the Society for Health Systems. I'm a member, and I'll be there at the event this year as usual, February 15 to 17 in Louisville, Kentucky. See Jody's full bio and more about his keynote talk.

His book, co-authored with Chuck Noon is The Definitive Guide to Emergency Department Operational Improvement: Employing Lean Principles with Current ED Best Practices to Create the “No Wait” Department.

Questions, Notes, and highlights:

• First off, give us a bit of a preview of the core messages for your keynote talk…
• It's a tough time in healthcare — three big issues
• The impact of pay, culture, and working conditions?
• Moral Injury vs. Burnout?
• Fixing an imperfect system — broader value stream issues that aren't in our control?
• Transitions between facilities and communication across shift handoffs – process improvement opportunities?
• Helping people see improvement opportunity vs. “this is just the way it's meant to be”
• Framing the problem as “not enough nurses” or “too much waste”?
• The impact of Lean? The untapped potential of Lean?
• Two questions for executives – Have you heard of Lean? Have you been part of a Kaizen Event?

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.