Recovery room

Recovery room

Improving Flow

Published in Mark Graban, John Toussaint, Lean Hospitals, 2018

The real innovation came from rethinking typical designs and layouts to be better for the patients and their families. The new space was created to minimize distances and improve flow from the parking garage to the front desk of the surgical floor, where people are greeted immediately after stepping out of the elevator. Instead of assuming that patients had to be transported down long hallways, two pre-surgical prep rooms connect directly to each operating room (OR). This allows the patient to be induced with their family by their side, before being brought through a door for their procedure. The patients are then brought directly into the recovery room, through a door on the other side of the OR, where they can wake up with their family with them again. Reducing those distances improves communication and flow between what might otherwise be silos in the value stream, with the added benefit of improving patient and family satisfaction.

Value stream map assessment of the extended day: 23h surgery model

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Journal Information

Published in Intelligent Buildings International, 2020

Ulla-Maija Ruohoaho, Merja Kokki, Jouni Hirvonen, Sarianna Joukainen, Sirpa Aaltomaa, Mikael Fraunberg, Ville Leinonen, Jori Reijula

The 23 h process has created more variance in the recovery room nurses’ daily tasks, requiring them to quickly learn new skills. The patient can stay in the 23 h recovery room without needing to be transferred to the bedside ward, and this may have several positive impacts: The patient can rest more thoroughly and is more satisfied, both patients’ and staff’s time is saved and staff resources are released as nurses no longer need to make additional patient transfers.

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Improving Flow

Value stream map assessment of the extended day: 23h surgery model