Healthcare Case Study
LEAN 5S Event Case Study at a Healthcare Center to Increase Bed Space and Remove the Need for a Proposed New Facility.
Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. was invited to a Health Care Center in South Texas by a new CEO. This hospital was in the planning stages of a new multi-million-dollar extension to increase bed space. The CEO knew that the hospital was not using its current footprint effectively. In a 5-day event, SSDSI’s team mentored several Green Belt teams in the 5S Methodology.
The SORT stage of 5S
The Hospital was “a buzz” for the next 5 days! In the Sort Stage of the Healthcare Case Study, we discovered storage rooms in several places that had long been forgotten.
We recovered almost a third of the existing hospital footprint
On every floor of the hospital, there was space that was not optimized. In the Healthcare Case Study, we found that we could consolidate several departments. We also uncovered several problems that could lead to medication errors because of clutter and disorganization in the Pharmacy, Nurse’s Stations, and Galleys. Everyone worked side by side to de-clutter each department. Today there are weekly 5S audits in each of the departments. There are competitions going on between departments based on the audit scores. There are monthly celebrations for the best-performing departments.
The result of the 5S Event
The result of the 5-day event in the Healthcare Case Study was an increase in bed space by 32%. This increase in bed space was realized without the construction of a new extension. The 5-day event also led to increased HCAHPS scores which dramatically increased their reimbursements.
