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The Children’s Mercy Lean System

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At Children's Mercy, Lean methodology is a proven method for continuously improving the experience of our patients and their families. Our Lean system is comprised of three major elements:

  • Lean mindset
  • Leadership and management systems
  • Improvement techniques

Our system brings consistency and predictability to our work, ensuring we’re patient-centered with every action, every day.

Our approach

 

The word "Leadership" is surrounded by the following words, making a continuous circle with arrows: Innovate, Deploy Strategy, Practice Daily Management, Provide Care/Do Our Daily Work, Improve Performance, Spread Best Practices.

With a systematic approach to solving problems and managing our daily work, we’re developing the following across our organization:

  • Problem solvers
  • Streamlined processes
  • Agility
  • Innovation
  • Waste and cost reduction
  • Satisfaction improvement for our patients, families and caregivers

Through servant leadership (leaders supporting the front-line caregivers) and a rigorous daily management system, we’re continuously working to improve care and add value to the patients and families we serve.

Examples of Lean methodology used at Children's Mercy:

Readiness huddle board with the following columns: Quality & Safety, People, Stewardship, Delivery, Patient & Family Experience.
Visual management to systemically surface, solve and escalate problems at the front line (clinical and non-clinical).
STP board with different slips of paper with problems to solve.
Methods for developing an organization of problem solvers to see waste, problem solve and contribute to continuous improvement.
Six Children's Mercy providers gathered around a table looking at a paper as part of a Rapid Performance Review.
Rapid performance improvement workshops for improving processes.
Example of a standard work document.
Standard work documents for sustaining improvement gains.
Three Children's Mercy providers looking at computers and smiling.
Gemba walks for observing where the work is happening, with the people doing the work.
Example of process mapping.
Process mapping for improving flow and relentlessly eliminating waste.
Sign that reads "Children's Mercy Adele Hall Campus"

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