Hospitals are often working to balance maximizing patient contact with enabling providers to treat more patients each day. 

According to an article on the FacilityCare website, achieving this goal involves establishing operational analysis to generate baseline metrics and defining functional improvements and efficiency targets to maximize available space and resources.

Integrating Lean workflow redesign with Lean facility design can also aid in achieving this balance. This strategy can be supported with digital modeling technology, which allows for visualization of both patient flow and provider/staff workflow, as well as quantifying the effects of various design alternatives on the health system’s patient-care and operational objectives, the article said.

The workflow modeling process starts with operational baselines and the identification of verifiable metrics that can be used to determine the effectiveness of various operational/design option. Virtual “before and after” comparisons can be valuable design and facility management tools.

Read the article.