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Latest "Improvement Insights" Posts
Sometimes you have to forget something to learn something new. Sometimes you have to try to solve a problem to be able to learn how to correctly solve problems.
Download my free eBook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I read kind of an interesting book recently, it’s called “Make It Stick,” which is the science of successful learning. In there, the author argues that remembering and learning and forgetting are key pieces of all that, and sometimes you have to forget things to be able to learn something new.
Continue Reading "Importance of Forgetting in Learning"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
The U.S. has a shortage of 500,000 nurses. It also has a shortage of Quality Improvement experts. Here’s what to do about it.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“My friend LeAnn Thiemann wrote the book “Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul,” and she has a whole platform which she’s been working on for a long time, because we’re short about a half a million nurses in the United States of America… a half a million.
Continue Reading "Nursing Shortage and Quality Improvement"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Heat Maps cause wild goose chases which lead to poor decisions and bad outcomes. Control Charts are the antidote. Here’s why:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” “Agile Process Innovation”and QI Macros [software].
“I still find that people out there are still trying to use heat maps to notice when things are shifting. Heat maps are like a snapshot of any given space-time, monthly, weekly, whatever it is, of what may be out of whack or in whack compared to certain goals somebody set somewhere.
Continue Reading "Control Charts vs Heat Maps"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Most people are still using line and bar charts to measure performance. Line and bar charts, especially ones with trendlines harm your customers and your company. They harm patients and hospitals. Here’s why:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Are line and bar charts harming your company, your hospital, your whatever (your country, even)? Line charts are really good for tracking overall trends like reduction in infant mortality, increase in world literacy rates, but [they’re] not very good for detecting what’s going on in your company.
Continue Reading "Are Line and Bar Charts Harming Your Customers and Company?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
All too often I hear people say: “It’s just human error.” No it’s not. Here’s why:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I was talking to somebody the other day, and we were talking about things in general, and they said, “Well, you know, it’s just human error.” And I said, no, stop. There’s no such thing as human error.
“Now, I know that’s a limiting sort of thought, but I believe that systems let people make mistakes.
Continue Reading "Human Error and System Design"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
There’s an invisible cost associated with poor quality: no customers. In healthcare, it’s called LWBS. Here’s what that stands for, and what it could mean for your business:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“One of the things nobody thinks about is the invisible cost of Quality: no customers.
“I’ve been seeing dermatologists (I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where it’s always sunny),I’ve been seeing a dermatologist for many years, and I was seeing the doctor for a while, and then I got punted down to a PA, who I really liked.
Continue Reading "The Invisible Cost of Quality in Healthcare"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Know anyone in the U.S. Military? They can take my free Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt training and get certified.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“This Memorial Day, let’s celebrate the people who have served in the armed forces of the United States and kept us safe from the crazies that are out there. One of the things we do at QI Macros is I have a full-blown Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt training. Anybody can [go through the training] for free, but if they want to take the test I charge $97 for them to actually get certified.
Continue Reading "Celebrate Memorial Day"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
If you’re doing Quality Improvement, you should always be in a learning mode. If you create a safe space for people to learn (and to fail), you’re creating conditions where Quality Improvement can grow and thrive.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“One of the barriers I find to getting people involved in Quality Improvement is they have this fear that somebody will ridicule whatever they’ve decided to try to do and make fun of their knowledge of statistics or whatever it is.
Continue Reading "Psychological Safety in Quality Improvement"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
The U.S. phone system was engineered to handle one day’s maximum traffic: Mother’s Day. What’s yours?
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“In 1973, I graduated from college and went to work for the phone company in Denver, Colorado Mountain Bell at the time, as a programmer. We did lots of different types of projects, and at one point I ended up working on a thing called the Trunk Forecasting System.
“Now, trunk lines are how you connect each major city with other cities and so on.
Continue Reading "Are You Ready for Your Mother’s Day?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
After WWII, Deming had to turn to Japan to spread the gospel of quality. I often feel empathy and sympathy for his struggles to bring quality improvement to the world.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I have sympathy for W. Edwards Deming. He learned Quality Improvement at Western Electric with Shewhart back in the ‘20s and ‘30s. And then all of those tools were used in World War II. But after World War II, he was sort of a pariah.
Continue Reading "Sympathy for Deming"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
