Using kaizen to improve employee well-being: Results from two organizational intervention studies.

Participatory intervention approaches that are embedded in existing organizational structures may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational interventions, but concrete tools are lacking. In the present article, we use a realist evaluation approach to explore the role of kaizen, a lean tool for participatory continuous improvement, in improving employee well-being in two cluster-randomized, controlled participatory intervention studies. Case 1 is from the Danish Postal Service, where kaizen boards were used to implement action plans.

Medical students' feedback regarding their clinical learning environment in primary healthcare: a qualitative study.

Background: An increasing part of medical students' learning takes place in primary healthcare (PHC) but little is known about how the students perceive PHC as a clinical learning environment. This study aimed to explore medical students' perceptions of the clinical learning environment in PHC and how these vary with stage of education.

Methods: Free-text course evaluation comments from students in nine different semesters during spring 2014 were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Kaizen practice in healthcare: a qualitative analysis of hospital employees' suggestions for improvement.

Objectives: Kaizen, or continuous improvement, lies at the core of lean. Kaizen is implemented through practices that enable employees to propose ideas for improvement and solve problems. The aim of this study is to describe the types of issues and improvement suggestions that hospital employees feel empowered to address through kaizen practices in order to understand when and how kaizen is used in healthcare.

The "Handling" of power in the physician-patient encounter: perceptions from experienced physicians.

Background: Modern healthcare is burgeoning with patient centered rhetoric where physicians "share power" equally in their interactions with patients. However, how physicians actually conceptualize and manage their power when interacting with patients remains unexamined in the literature. This study explored how power is perceived and exerted in the physician-patient encounter from the perspective of experienced physicians.