A Practical Guide to the Kaizen Approach as a Quality Improvement Tool

Abstract

Quality is a prominent subject in healthcare, with the ultimate objective of maintaining a high level of patient satisfaction while increasing profitability and patient safety. The goals are constantly shifting and potentially affected by several external factors. When a healthcare institution has barriers to reaching goals in meeting costeffective objectives and improving patient safety, it is vital to identify the core causes and take necessary steps as quickly as possible. One quality enhancement concept in healthcare is to do it right the first time; therefore, it is important to respond quickly to an undesirable condition or problem and analyze the most critical contributing factors that led to it. Healthcare systems are classified as complex adaptive systems; they are the hardest systems to understand and manage because a single problem might be related to several contributing parts simultaneously. Kaizen refers to ongoing or continual improvement and comprises the following two Japanese words: kai, meaning ‘‘change,’’ and zen, meaning ‘‘good.’’ The Japanese term translates to ‘‘constant improvement.’’ It is a concept of ‘‘doing better every day, with everyone, and everywhere.’’ The Kaizen philosophy questions the phrase, ‘‘that is just how we do things.’’ It tries to eliminate silos, egos, and waste through microchanges and instead aspires to efficient and standardized operations. Kaizen is a method of producing continuous improvement founded on the premise that tiny, continual positive adjustments may yield substantial results. Often it is established on collaboration and commitment rather than techniques that employ drastic or top-down reforms to achieve transformation. With an emphasis on making incremental, regular improvements to current processes, the improvements are developed by all employees at all levels, not just by managers and executives. For example, when applied to the use of technology, Kaizen has the potential to improve every aspect of an organization, from marketing to finance to warehouse management. Toyota pioneered the Japanese idea in the 1980s, and subsequently, hundreds of businesses worldwide have used it. Known as ‘‘the Toyota way’’, Kaizen has subsequently gone around the world to be used in situations other than business and productivity.