TY - JOUR AU1 - Decker, Wyatt W. AU2 - Stead, Latha G. AB - Int J Emerg Med (2008) 1:161–162 DOI 10.1007/s12245-008-0057-8 EDITORIAL Application of lean thinking in health care: a role in emergency departments globally Wyatt W. Decker & Latha G. Stead Received: 29 July 2008 /Accepted: 30 July 2008 /Published online: 28 August 2008 Springer-Verlag London Ltd 2008 Lean management principles were first developed in the Perfection The aim is perfection. Lean thinking creates an 1950s in the industrial setting of car manufacturing, and the environment of constant review, emphasizing suggestions first laboratory was the Toyota manufacturing plant. Further, from the “floor” and learning from previous mistakes. Womack and Jones are credited in developing the field [1]. With the application of these principles to the health-care Over the past half a century, lean thinking has become more widely embraced, particularly in manufacturing and indus- environment and specifically to emergency medicine, some reflection is required [5]. trial settings. More recently, it has been recognized that other entities, including the service industries and health care, may be able to benefit substantially from the implementation of Value lean and other related methodologies, often broadly de- scribed as a “systems engineering” approach to health care The concept of value can be looked at from several TI - Application of lean thinking in health care: a role in emergency departments globally JF - International Journal of Emergency Medicine DO - 10.1007/s12245-008-0057-8 DA - 2008-09-01 UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/application-of-lean-thinking-in-health-care-a-role-in-emergency-rNbzcXKZDv SP - 161 EP - 162 VL - 1 IS - 3 DP - DeepDyve ER -