So, WHY LEAN?

a scrub nurse handing surgical instrument- an early measure to reduce waste in healthcare

I could trace my interest in Lean Healthcare back to 2012, when I saw a profile update of one of my LinkedIn contacts saying that he became certified in Lean Healthcare. At that time, I was a certified Six Sigma Black Belt who didn't have the chance to practice much SS except for a couple of shy half attempts.
After a huge interest in SS, I discovered that it's not my cup of tea perhaps for its heavy dependence on statistics, which isn't very practical in the complex healthcare system (in my humble opinion), and the fact that it is not a very popular improvement methodology in the hospitals I worked in, or in any the healthcare systems I know for that matter.
 Another reason for making the shift to lean is that successful SS implementation need a team of trained and certified black or green belts. At many times, this means relying on external consultants. Later on, I discovered that SS doesn’t emphasize the cultural elements of respect for people, going to the Genba, and continuous improvement; all of which made Lean more appealing.
After studying Lean in depth, I found it more practical, applicable, and with the strong and growing evidence of successful implementation in healthcare worldwide. Every day, Lean proves to be the solution of many healthcare problems that we face globally, being it quality, safety, or cost issues. It became my method of choice in thinking about problems or improvement in general, and hence, I always lean towards Lean!