Quick Setup and Changeover

Often when you walk down the hall in a hospital you see rooms without patients but on the news you are hearing about bed shortages and long waiting times for patients waiting for an inpatient bed. These rooms, whether they be in the ER, the OR or on any ward, are usually waiting to be cleaned and restocked. By first observing and then doing a detailed analysis of your current 'setup - changeover' process you can design a new standardized system that will not only decrease the amount of time taken but will also ensure that rooms have been properly set up according to what you need, and where and when you need it. This is completed by using 'Quick Changeover' tools, 'Visual Management' techniques, Error-Proofing, 5S and overall eliminating waste in the end-to-end system.

A standardized setup and changeover process will clearly define who is responsible for what tasks, what tools are required and where they should be located, what order tasks need to be done in, how they are done and how to notify others when they are required or the process is complete. Also, by staggering the transfer or discharge of these patients throughout the day, when possible, instead of everyone leaving or moving in the morning, staff will be better able to respond to continuous flow of work instead of a large, often unmanageable batch.

Once this new process has been implemented and the staff become familiar with their roles, the rooms should be out of service for a much shorter time. This shorter time should eliminate the need to have an alternate process for stat requests and get a new patient into the room much quicker. This will also affect patient wait times.