Poka-Yoke and The Error-Free Hospital
October 11, 2011
Hosted by Gwendolyn D. Galsworth, Ph.D.
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Episode Description
Did you know that an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year in US hospitals due to medical errors? The number of people injured—or requiring prolonged hospital stays—due to errors is ten times that. Other research shows 5%-10% of all pharmacy prescriptions contain errors, 70% are significant, 14% serious, and 16% potentially fatal. In today’s show, host Gwendolyn Galsworth interviews poka-yoke expert, Martin Hinckley, on the sources of error in healthcare and how simple, inexpensive mistake-proof solutions can eliminate them forever. Mistake-proofing (aka, poka-yoke or visual guarantees) is a visual workplace method that targets non-conformance due to variation, errors, and complexity. Highly effective in every workplace, poka-yoke devices excel in life-sensitive medical settings. Yet, they are rarely used. Instead, efforts often reflect little understanding of the attributes of mistakes and basic mistake-proofing principles. Tune in. Call in. Join the discussion.
Visual Workplace Radio: Let the Workplace Speak
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Business Channel
Visual Workplace Radio: Let the Workplace Speak offers the best in practical tools, methods, and strategies for improvement leaders who want to apply workplace visuality and harness its remarkable cultural and bottom line contribution. Visuality: you can’t get to excellence without it.
Each week, award-winning author and foremost visual workplace expert, Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth, targets new learning and applications through a range of formats, case studies, interviews with business leaders and topic experts.
Whether yours is a factory, hospital, military depot, bank, office or dry cleaners, get informed, get inspired, get visual.
Gwendolyn D. Galsworth, Ph.D.
Gwendolyn D. Galsworth, PhD, is president and founder of Visual Thinking Inc. and The Visual-Lean Institute(r), a training, consulting, and research firm in visual workplace technologies. Over a period of 30 years, Dr. Galsworth has codified the field of visuality into a single coherent framework of thinking and application called the 10-Doorway Model.
In 2005, Dr. Galsworth established the Visual-Lean(r) Institute where in-house and external trainers are licensed in nine core visual workplace courses.
Four of her nine courses are now available as on-line training systems (English/Spanish), with more to come. Galsworth is author of seven books, including two Shingo Prize winners: Visual Workplace/Visual Thinking and Work That Makes Sense, available from her website and Amazon.
Dr. Galsworth began in the 1980s as the head of training/development at Productivity Inc. She worked closely with Dr. Ryuji Fukuda to adapt the CEDAC(r) method for western companies, and with Dr. Shigeo Shingo to develop, among many things, poka-yoke for the West. She was principal developer of Visual Factory, TEIAN (operator-led suggestion systems), and the X-Type Matrix.
A Fellow on the Shingo Institute Faculty and former Baldrige and Shingo Examiners, Galsworth has led study missions to some of the world’s finest companies, including in Japan. Dr. Galsworth lives in New England where she happily works, hikes, and writes.
