Virginia Mason Institute


A couple years ago, we reported on the innovative lean work of Virginia Mason’s VTE Therapeutics Committee and the accomplishments of all the leaders, providers and staff in the critical care unit. Through their work, they achieved 100 percent compliance, for 25 consecutive months, with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) measures for venousthromboembolism prophylaxis for their intensive care patients. In July...
Sustaining Improvements to Patient Safety
Recent Blog Posts
5 Ways Patients Can Help Organizations Shape...

An interview with Phil Fergusson, a patient partner at Virginia Mason Phil Fergusson is a volunteer who participates in the Patient-Family Partner Program at...

Leader Tools to Prevent Medical Errors

What health care leaders can do to reduce the number of medical errors in their organization: It starts with culture. A culture of empowerment enables an...

Getting Closer to Continuous Flow in Health Care

What is continuous flow? In manufacturing, continuous flow occurs when a single product is built from start to finish on an assembly line that doesn’t stop. Henry...

Is It Possible to Fix Broken Systems and...

For health care organizations everywhere, patient safety is a top concern. But how can an organization go from being vigilant about safety to actually fixing the...

Glossary of Lean Terminology

3P – Production Preparation Process, a five-day event in which a team focuses on building a production system for a new plant, process or product. 5S – A strategy...

Analyzing the “Big Idea”: Extending the Success...

An Interview with Robert Mecklenburg, MD, Center for Health Care Solutions, Virginia Mason Institute In Harvard Business Review’s article “The Employer-Led Health...

Implementing a Real-Time Visual Monitoring System...

Problem Like so many other hospitals and medical groups, Virginia Mason grappled with how to help clinicians improve their performance. Typically, physicians...

The Beauty of Intrinsic Motivation

“For me, leadership here is a vocation and I think that’s true for many of us.” – Charleen Tachibana, RN A lot has been written lately about burnout among health...

Cutting Cost of Care While Improving Quality

“From my perspective, we all have a common purpose, and that is to return healthy and satisfied employees to work faster and more affordably.” Robert Mecklenburg,...

Selected Resources

Healthcare Improvement Insights

Explore articles, case studies, and research that help healthcare leaders drive sustainable improvement.

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Start Your Lean Health Care Journey Learn More Problem Virginia Mason recognized that mistakes and ...

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Start Your Lean Health Care Journey Learn More Problem Virginia Mason recognized that mistakes and ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia ...

“The fact that Virginia Mason is driven by the same purpose we are – serving patients and ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia Mason Institute for Help

“The fact that Virginia Mason is driven by the same purpose we are – serving patients and ...

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Problem Responding to patient phone calls at Virginia Mason consumed a great deal of clinic time ...

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Problem Responding to patient phone calls at Virginia Mason consumed a great deal of clinic time ...