http://www.leanblog.org/audio159

I do a lot of work across the U.S., but I've also been very fortunate to work with hospitals, clinics, and health systems around the world over the past 11 years.It started with a few trips to Canada to conduct some hospital lab assessments and Lean leadership training when I worked for a J&hospital consulting group. Then, came an opportunity to spend about eight weeks working with a hospital north of London in 2008, a fascinating opportunity.In recent years, I've visited and/or coached hospitals in The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Japan, China, and Thailand.

These are very different countries in their national cultures, of course. Their high-level, big-picture healthcare systems are designed differently (including the level of universal coverage, or lack thereof, and who pays).

But, when you look at the details of how the work is done... how healthcare is delivered... how people manage... things are more the same than they are different. In England, they said, "Same problems, different accent."

The same has been true in my most recent stop here in Thailand - except it's same problems, different language.