In one of our foremost healthcare classics, Naida Grunden lays out a detailed but brief story of Pittsburgh's healthcare success stories. They were among the very first healthcare institutions to successfully migrate Toyota production methods into a medical environment. Undoubtedly the practices have changed nearly 10 years post-implementation, and we have added new priorities in the IT area, but the starting point is essential reading. --Patricia E. Moody, FORTUNEmagazine "Pioneering Woman in Mfg", IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert This book reports how managers-- without more money or federal action--can use Toyota management principles to create an environment where it is difficult to make a mistake and people can take joy in work and deliver better and better patient care. --Clare Crawford-Mason, co-author, The Nun and the Bureaucrat: How They Found an Unlikely Cure for America's Sick Hospitalsand Thinking About Quality: Progress, Wisdom and the Deming Philosophy . chock full of pearls, useful tools, and inspiring stories of people and organizations who made quality improvement concepts and principles spring to life. --Robert M.

Wachter, MD, Professor and Associate Chairman, Department of Medicine University of California, San Francisco, Chief of the Medical Service, UCSF Medical Center Editor, AHRQ WebM&Mand Patient Safety Network At a time when we are overwhelmed by the staggering evidence that health care systems that we depend on often fail us, here is a book that captures the power of real transformation. --Frank Christopher, PBS producer of the series Remaking American Medicine I love this book! Like the Toyota Production System on which these case study improvements were founded, it is clear, concise and visual.I can't imagine a reader not being inspired to run out and find similar problems to tackle. I wish every reader the wherewithal to make equal progress! --Cindy Jimmerson, President, Lean Healthcare West, author, A3 Problem Solving for Healthcare: A Practical Method for Eliminating Waste What exactly is workflow re-design? Can it really make the health care experience safer and more effective, efficient, and rewarding for patients and providers? Ms. Grunden answers these questions through dozens of fascinating examples which really happened in Pittsburgh's hospitals and are replicable virtually anywhere. --Christopher Guadagnino, Managing Editor, Physician's News Digest.