The Toyota Way ... Or Not?--New Lessons for Health Care (Quality) (Toyota Motor Corp.‪)‬

Health care has experienced great strides in technology, drug development and complexity of care processes over the past few decades. Yet, the delivery of care has hardly changed and is plagued with inefficient processes, improper handover of patient information, and teams working in individual "silos." Many of the processes involved with the delivery of care are similar to those in manufacturing and hence a great deal can be learned from other industries to improve quality, safety, efficiencies and patient satisfaction. Cognizant of the need for a major transformation in the way we deliver care, the Toyota way (commonly referred to as kaizen or the Lean Method) is being adopted in health care settings globally.