UCSF Will Begin Training Residents In Lean Processes

UCSF Health plans to get Lean.

            Officials with the San Francisco-based teaching hospital announced this week that it would begin training its medical residents in the principles of what is called “Lean Management.” That concept, originally applied to manufacturing and other businesses, focuses on continuous improvement processes that lead to higher quality.

            UCSF is one of eight teaching hospitals to receive a training grant from the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The Lean process will be introduced into resident training over the next four years. The hospital trains about 1,200 residents at any given time.

            “UCSF feels privileged to be part of this four-year commitment to working with the ACGME and...other select institutions to promote transformative improvements in the clinical learning environment,” said Robert Baron, M.D., UCSF's associate dean for graduate and continuing medical education. “This work is fully aligned with the strategic priorities at UCSF Health and is in line with changes in the broader health care environment.”

            Officials said that UCSF has incorporated Lean into other facets of its hospital operations, including patient discharge planning and medication reconciliation. In 2014, UCSF officially embraced continuous process improvement, creating an office of innovations, a centralized quality hub, and hiring a chief quality officer.

            As for the residency training, UCSF will initially focus on transitions from the emergency department to inpatient units, then in the ambulatory settings. Both physicians and non-physicians will be engaged in the initiative.

            “Residents and fellows are essential members of our health care delivery teams, and our trainees have been helping to bring about quality and patient safety improvements for the past decade,” said UCSF Health President Mark Laret. “The...grant will further our commitment to continuous process improvement by embedding systems-based improvement strategies even deeper into our organization. As a leading academic medical center, UCSF aims to catalyze change in every area aspect of medical care, including healthcare delivery.”