Applying Lean in Process Innovation in Healthcare: The Case of Hip Fracture.

Academic literature and practitioners acknowledge that there is a need to improve efficiency and service quality in the healthcare industry. In Spain, osteoporotic fractures represent a great cost in socio-economic and morbi-mortality terms, hip fracture being the surgical pathology with the second highest consumption of resources. The research questions that govern this study concern the use of Lean principles to identify waste, and an evaluation of the application of an innovative approach in the hip fracture surgery process.

Kaizen-Kata, a Problem-Solving Approach to Public Service Health Care in Mexico. A Multiple-Case Study.

Mexico's public hospitals are experiencing major operational problems which seriously affect the care of Mexican citizens. Some hospitals have initiated efforts to apply the Kaizen philosophy to improve this situation. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze the methodological impact of Kaizen-Kata implementation in Mexican public hospitals that have tried to solve operational problems using this improvement approach.