Ep. 036: The Healthcare Parallel: Why Optimizing the OR Alone Never Works

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YOU CAN'T OPTIMIZE DOWNSTREAM WHILE THE CONSTRAINT SITS UPSTREAM Every week the same meeting happens: the CFO sees rising costs, the COO hears surgeon complaints, the CNO watches quality metrics stall, and SPD says the numbers look fine. Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs explains why everyone is right, and gives the condition a name. IN THIS EPISODE • Why OR improvement efforts stall at a ceiling when SPD, the upstream constraint, goes unaddressed • The definition of operational blindness: leaders can't see dysfunction because measurement and feedback systems don't surface it • The NASCAR picture: the surgeon is the driver, the OR is the pit crew, SPD is the garage • What operational blindness looks…