For over decade, automotive industry originated
lean concept has been successfully implemented in healthcare
systems as a management method and philosophy with main
focus on elimination of all types of wastes and looses in all
tasks and processes so that time, materials, resources and
medical procedures could be realized as effectively as it is
possible. As main result lean concept implementation ensured
to healthcare organizations to focus on their main core
function and dedicate more time and efforts to patients without
additional costs for them or healthcare system. However, lean
implementation in healthcare could be much more difficult
than in standard industrial environment and there are
significant number of examples of lean in healthcare projects
that failed to gain any measurable results and sustainable
benefits from it. This paper presents review of some of the most
successful implementations of lean tools and principles in
healthcare organizations