Quality and Safety (2)


To be financially viable, a hospital’s operating rooms (ORs) must keep quality and utilization high and expenses low. It’s critical to plan ahead, be prepared, and set volumes correctly. This means an organization’s OR team should be continuously finding ways to improve turnover time in their ORs, while also sustaining improvements to patient safety, staff engagement and organizational costs. Surgical instrument processing is...
Case Study | Surgical Setup Reduction Improves...
Recent Blog Posts
How Does Standard Work Lead to Better Patient...

We’re hurting people in health care more than we think. Providers and other health care specialists frequently balance the art and the science of medicine. While...

Terrible Tragedy — and Powerful Legacy — of...

“Our board said that if we cannot ensure safety of our patients we shouldn’t be in business.” – Cathie Furman, RN The course of history for Virginia Mason was...

Respect for People: A Building Block for Engaged...

Virginia Mason’s Respect for People initiative has been a decade-long program designed to sustain a culture of respect across the health system including training...

How to Create a Pathway to Better Patient Care –...

As CEO of a major health system, I’ve seen value-based care turn the axiom “you get what you pay for” on its head. If you would have asked me whether that adage...

Empowering teams to identify and address sepsis,...

Virginia Mason staff members share their experiences implementing the Sepsis Power Hour protocol Sepsis is a factor in one out of every two to three hospital deaths...

Capturing the Patient Voice: Part 2

When patients need a passport In Capturing the Patient Voice – Part 1, we explored how to facilitate greater patient engagement in a health care setting. We also...

How a Team Took on a Small Space to Improve Care...

Everyone knows that lean tools and methods are great for improving health care processes. But many don’t know that culture is key to making innovative changes that...

How Eliminating Wasteful Processes Helped a Team...

An interview with Megan McIntyre Why is waste elimination so important to delivering quality care? MM: Waste elimination is essential to the Virginia Mason...

Sustaining Improvements to Patient Safety

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...

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 ...