The basic exercise is “Critical
Care Supplies/ Inventory Exercise” which is used to introduce basis process
observation tool (cycle timing, process mapping, time value maps, etc.) while “EC
patient throughput exercise” introduces more complex Lean tools (constraint
management, WIP management, etc) to healthcare professionals. These two
exercises have been extensively tested with local healthcare partners. They were
found to be effective in eliminating the impact of constraints, reducing the amount of
waste, and improvement in cycle time through over 30 iterations across 16 hospitals
during 24 months period during 2005 and 2006.