This annual academic meeting is designed to foster a deeper understanding of the application of Lean Thinking and Practice to the academic healthcare setting. Our 2018 conference is the third year for this event and each year we deepen and broaden our learning. This year we will focus on the adoption of Lean Thinking in healthcare.

This year, we want to learn more about the spread of Lean Thinking and Practice in the healthcare setting. Is pull more effective than push? How is the staff experience for leaders and front-line staff when involvement in continuous improvement is sought, rather than required? What impact does this have on the work of the improvement team and lean coaches? Is spread faster and more sustainable? Is continuous improvement more fun? Do you have case studies or stories of improvement that would help us learn more deeply to understand the adoption of Lean Thinking in healthcare?

An international call for abstracts creates an environment where clinicians, leaders, allied healthcare personnel and improvement practitioners from around the world can share contemporary examples to further our knowledge through oral and poster presentations. These will be the basis for our program design, with more than half of the program dedicated to delegate contributions.

Each year we discover new insights, new examples and new adopters of Lean Thinking who have proven its value to our patients, staff and organization.

As Lean Thinking is embraced around the world, in almost all sectors, we aim to improve our own understanding of solving problems, sustaining improvements and demonstrating our success. Even as the problems get more complex, the simple principles of Lean remain relevant and powerful.