On the "Efforts at improving hospital patient safety" panel at Health Journalism 2009, Cathie Furman (R.N., M.H.A., senior vice president, quality and compliance, Virginia Mason Medical Center) delivered a presentation entitled "Improving patient safety: Applying the Toyota production system to health care." In it, Furman pushed for the application of Toyota's well-known system of "continuous improvement" to the health care arena with the goal of getting as close to perfection as possible.
