By Healthcare Facilities Today

“Most studies indicate that employees spend 75-95 percent of their time doing things that increase costs and create no value for the customer,” said Amanda Mewborn, senior healthcare operational planner, Perkins+Will, when she joined colleague Marvina Williams, clinical operations specialist, Perkins+Will, during Healthcare Design magazine’s webinar  “Using Lean in Healthcare Facility Planning and Design.”

Healthcare Design's senior editor, Anne DiNardo, shared the speakers' list of costly and potentially unproductive activities in a recent blog. The list included

• Overproduction 

• Inventory

• Transportation

• Waiting

The speakers shared case studies where Lean principles helped create optimal designs, DiNardo wrote.

In one, they talked about the use of process modeling to help determine the appropriate size of waiting spaces and number of seats for outpatient clinics in a new medical office building.

“Waiting spaces are often a patient’s first impression when visiting a clinical department or physician office,” Williams said. “Creating adequate spaces that decrease the amount of stress and anxiety are important.”  

Read the blog.