How can hospitals promote efficiency and high-quality results? Look at a Lean approach when designing a new hospital or redesigning an existing one. Used as a way of managing data gathering and analysis to help develop a smooth workflow environment, Lean methods help direct optimal operational layout of health facilities.
Lean initiatives involve hospitals identifying and standardizing processes with the end goal being streamlined operations. Much like there are inefficiencies and gaps in delivering healthcare, there are inefficiencies throughout the design process as well. When going Lean, different techniques involved range from simulations and modeling to flexibility, modularity, standardization and more. Once processes have been targeted, these methods can be used to improve them.
Lean methods have long been used in manufacturing organizations to increase efficiency and streamline processes, but are now beginning to make an impact in the healthcare industry as the results have been favorable. As the healthcare field grows even more competitive and challenging, healthcare facilities are faced with the task of delivering care with fewer resources. Lean methodology aids hospitals in this endeavor immensely, especially in two very important areas: communication and the patient experience.
Patient experiences and the ability for all participants involved in the healthcare continuum to communicate effectively help drive Lean processes. When designers put themselves in the perspective of a patient, simulating modeling to assess flow, it is a highly effective tool to envision ways to reduce costs across the board. Likewise, when nurses, physicians, and hospital executives provide input and are able to collaborate and contribute their ideas to the design team, best solutions can be found.
A newly designed hospital that touted its Lean design methodologies recently was Virtua Voorhees replacement hospital in New Jersey. Virtua Voorhees officials used simulation and modeling geared towards patient and clinician movement to identify inefficiencies and change department layout, maximizing staff and patient flow.
UNC Health Care applied a Lean communication approach of their own to their orthopedic departments, and saw immediate results. After physicians discussed with patients their target discharge dates and means of accomplishing recovery by then, length of stay was decreased by one day, equating to three to four more free hospital beds each day, and patient satisfaction rose by 10%. The most dramatic part was that had UNC officials applied the approach to the rest of the hospital, capacity would have risen by 80 beds, improving net income by $35 million.
In this challenging and dynamic climate, Lean methods are an innovative process to help hospitals improve outcomes and set new standards in high quality.
James Ellis, CEO, Health Care Realty Development Company, is a nationally recognized successful real estate investor and developer of medical office properties with a comprehensive knowledge of sophisticated real estate transactions, cost effective designs, and efficient property management.
Aaron Razavi is Associate Marketing Director at Health Care Realty Development.
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