First few Article Sentences
Following the overwhelming success of a quality improvement certification program in 2013, hospitals from across Oregon are once again participating in training for Lean Yellow Belt, Lean Green Belt, and Lean Black Belt certification, a program offered by Purdue Healthcare Advisors, a not-for-profit expert group from Purdue University, and the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.
Hospitals will send participants from their clinical staff to become experts in the process improvement methodology known as Lean. Lean aims to increase value while minimizing waste. It has been used effectively in manufacturing companies for decades, particularly in Japan. Because of historically being associated with manufacturing. Lean has not typically been associated with health care until recently. However, Lean does in fact work in health care in much the same way it does in other industries: to streamline processes, reduce cost, and improve quality and timely delivery of products and services. In essence, Lean principles can be — indeed, already are being — successfully applied to the delivery of health care.