ABSTRACT
Before describing what is meant by continuous improvement, it will be helpful to better understand a few essential Lean terms. Lean improvement is based on two themes: continuous improvement and respect for all people. To understand the first theme, continuous improvement, it is necessary to understand the value added/non-value added principle. The understanding of a value added (VA) and non-value added activity (NVA) is the first lesson that must be learned in improvement, and it is not always an easy lesson to understand. Lean organizations frequently shorten this phrase to "seeing and eliminating waste." The theme of continuous improvement, however, has two other tenets. In assigning resources to our EHR, we want to employ each of the cultural tenets of continuous improvement. From an improvement perspective, the focus to "see and eliminate" waste is generally on process and the seven wastes that will show up when we study a process in detail through direct observation.
