Pascal Dennis - Andy & Me and the Hospital: Further Adventures on the Lean Journey

Andy & Me and the Hospital is a great read full of insights into how and why healthcare leaders must change. This book stays focused on the most important activities and behaviors leaders need to learn to create a culture of continuous improvement. Another home run by Pascal Dennis.

Dr. John Toussaint

Chief Executive Officer, ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value

Pascal takes simple concepts and shows them in action in a manner that is both inspiring and challenging simultaneously. I plan to share copies of this book to help our organization achieve greater performance.

Dean Gruner, MD, MMM

President and CEO, ThedaCare

Pascal has described the path to superior and systemic management practices that are the way to unlock the transformational energy of the incredible people working in healthcare, and to achieve the level of operational excellence and the quality of care our patients deserve.

James Hereford

Chief Operating Officer, Stanford Health Care

An excellent overview of what it takes to truly embrace the Lean journey. A great read for those considering adopting Lean in their organization.

Norman Gruber

President and CEO, Salem Health (retired)

Dennis has written a great story of how Lean thinking can apply to one of the most complex systems in all of human activity, the acute care hospital. It is an engaging story, well-told with human faces and realistic problems. The questions at the end of each chapter encourage the reader to commit himself/herself to a position on the opinions expressed. Have I seen this behavior? Do I agree with that observation?

I learned a lot reading this book, and enjoyed it all the way. It shows how complex problems of large health systems can be tackled by an understandable systematic approach. Realistic problems they face include the lack of clarity of responsibility, the proliferation of top-down initiatives, and the silo mentality plaguing our healthcare institutions. provides the best brief description Ive seen of how strategy deployment (hoshin kanri) applies in healthcare.

Dr. John (Jack) Billi

Professor of Internal Medicine and Learning Health Sciences, Medical School; Associate Vice President for Medical Affairs, The University of Michigan Health System

Great story, easy read. Pascal Dennis presents the tools and, more importantly, the thinking necessary to apply the principles of TPS to the transformation of healthcare. A must read and permanent companion for the journey to improve healthcare.

John Fitzgerald

Chief Executive Officer, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital

Pascal gets to the heart of the process improvement challenge in healthcare, and paints a compelling picture of the cultural transformation journey. Pascal clearly describes the critical elements an organization must embrace, and the barriers that must be overcome to truly achieve healthcare excellence. Study questions at the end of each chapter enable rich reflection on where your organization is and where it can be.

Joe Pilon

Chief Operating Officer, Health Sciences North

A gift to all healthcare administrative and physician leaders, and a must read for ALL current and future leaders in training. This book translates the principles and concepts of TPS in a way that leaders at all levels can use. This book is their day-today companion on the journey to transform healthcare and get results that matter for our patients and staff.

Debbie Barnard

Vice President, Process Improvement, Quality and Patient Safety at Health Sciences North

Once again, Tom and Andy enter my life and change it for the better. And this time, our Lean adventurers find themselves in the least standardized, most variable, most complex organization on the planet: the modern hospital. Pascal Dennis is a master storyteller. He understands the deep human need for stories in order to see ourselves in real life situations and really learn. Tom and Andy show step-by-step how Lean, as a complete system of management and not just a bunch of tools, can transform any healthcare organization for better outcomes, lower costs and dramatically improved morale and engagement.

Dr. David Holloway

Chief Executive Officer, Bend Memorial Clinic

Andy & Me
and the Hospital

Further Adventures on the Lean Journey

Pascal Dennis

CRC Press

Taylor & Francis Group

6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300

Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

2016 by Pascal Dennis

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Printed on acid-free paper

Version Date: 20160504

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4987-4033-3 (Paperback)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dennis, Pascal, 1957- author.

Title: Andy & me and the hospital : further adventures on the lean journey / Pascal Dennis.

Other titles: Andy and me and the hospital

Description: 1 Edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2016. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015048106 | ISBN 9781498740333

Subjects: LCSH: Manufacturing processes--Fiction. | Medical care--Fiction. | Production management--Fiction. | Just-in-time systems--Fiction. | Production control--Fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3604.E5865 A536 2016 | DDC 813/.6--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015048106

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For my dear wife, Pamela, and for her dad,

the late great Dr. Robert Guselle