It is seen by many as a “panacea”: a professional as minister or executive. The assumption is that if you have worked in healthcare yourself, preferably as a doctor or nurse, then you know the problems and the right solutions. But is that really the case? What do you think is going on in the […]

As many of you already know, in my daily work I am inspired by companies, such as Toyota, and the management philosophy they developed, and was popularized by the name: ‘Lean’. Learning from companies like Toyota is like peeling an onion. Each time you hit a new layer. The closer to the core the more […]

Everyone is saying that it’s now clearer than ever: “Healthcare needs to be improved continuously to prepare us for the increasing demand on our system.” A system that is becoming increasingly complex and cumbersome, and is burning-out our physicians and nurses. If it so clear, why aren’t we changing our system?! My hypothesis: we try […]

It’s not easy to admit, but even in the health care sector things still go wrong, regularly. Think of medication errors, post-operative infections, misdiagnoses, … , or as happened to me: a shoulder operation that had to be redone the next day, during which a nerve in my arm was damaged. Usually patients, doctors and the […]

Everybody is clear on the fact that we need to improve healthcare! If this pandemic made one thing clear, it is that there are limits to the quality and quantity of care we can provide to our community with our current system and processes. So, let’s start or continue, depending on where you are at, […]

These last weeks, the number of COVID-19 patients that needed hospital care has risen exponentially again, flooding the wards and intensive care units. Many of the “regular” procedures have been cancelled and healthcare professionals’ well deserved days off have been revoked. Already, 10-20% of them are showing signs of burn-out.* This made me think … […]