Facilities Planning Services
Our Team has comprehensive design support experience using “Lean Six Sigma” based design approach to enable data driven design concepts. We cover all material flows from “Dock to Doc to Dock” as described below:
- Clean materials (Supplies, Linen, Meds, Food, specimen, equipment, etc.) coming into loading dock (D) to
- All the way to their point of use near point of care – Doctor (D); then all the soiled/returned materials from patient floor to
- Soiled and Return materials back to Loading dock (D) where they leave the hospital campus
- Functional Space Planning
- Design Data Analysis using Lean Six Sigma
- Layout Design Planning using CAD & Revit
- Process Reengineering to support Design Process
- Material Delivery Models & Design Considerations
- User Group Meetings to Support Design Process
- Design Alternatives to support Best Cost, Service, & Operational Efficiency
- Automation Planning & Business Case Evaluations
- Manpower Planning
- Project Specific Output Specifications (PSOS)
- Transition/Move-in Planning
Loading dock is where most of the materials enter the hospital premise and it is one of the critical elements in logistics planning. Many hospitals designed over 30-50 years ago, have a smaller loading dock with receiving function located at floor below the loading dock requiring all materials to be transferred via freight elevator. Naturally this causes bottleneck right at the point of entry leading to lower productivity. Here are some key questions we could help answer during the design process:
- How to alleviate traffic issues for vehicles coming in and out of loading docks?
- Based on number of dock bays, how to schedule vendors in and out of loading dock while taking into account future volumes?
- How to ensure that clean and soiled material flows are in compliance with JCAHO regulations?
- What options are available to dispose infectious waste including use of onsite equipment to covert infectious waste into regular waste?
- How to design dock layout for while taking into account placement of cardboard bailors and composters?
- How to eliminate certain deliveries and pickups to reduce dock congestion?
- How to design spaces while understanding receiving and delivery processes?
- How to minimize congestion where freight elevators create a bottleneck?
Storeroom design is the next component in facilities planning as it relates to Med-Surg Supplies. Here are some key questions that our team can answer as part of our storeroom design process:
- Do we have the supplies appropriately organized within the storeroom?
- How to design a storeroom layout for optimum productivity?
- How to establish appropriate staffing needs to conduct all storeroom activities in future state?
- How to establish requirement for material handling equipment to conduct all storeroom activities?
- How to evaluate right technology and processes to conduct all storeroom operations?
- How to establish optimum slotting of storeroom supplies?
Allowing right amount of spaces to ensure smooth movement of supplies to their designated destination is critical in operating at higher productivity levels. Here are key questions our design process will typically address:
- How to design various staging spaces to improve productivity?
- How to establish appropriate staffing needs to conduct all receiving and delivery activities in future state?
- How to establish requirement for material handling equipment to conduct all delivery and staging activities?
- How to plan for right technology and processes to conduct all staging and receiving operations?
- How to ensure that the planned spaces do not interfere with clinical operations and patient safety including noise control?
One of the key elements in logistics planning inside a new facility is last 100 feet (closer to the point of care) Logistics. This includes Med-Surg supplies, Pharmaceutical supplies, Reusable Medical equipment, Housekeeping, and soiled material flows. Our consultants have worked with several hospital clients in designing optimal spaces, processes and delivery models while understanding the service challenges to meet clinical staff expectations. Here are some key questions our design team will address as part of our design process:
- How to design optimum space for storing PAR supplies, Bedside supplies, pharmaceutical supplies, and clean linen to optimize labor availability for given service requirements?
- How to use lean six-sigma principles in improving supply replenishment processes and related clinical processes?
- How to design spaces to enable better process compliance as it relates to supply replenishment operations?
- How to optimize supply and equipment needs inside patient rooms?
- How to optimize use of handhelds and other technology options to improve labor productivity as it relates to patient floor supplies and equipment?
- How to minimize supply waste on patient floors?
- What is the right model to replenish supplies on patient floors, given the current state?
- How to layout the supply rooms on patient floors to improve supply search time for clinical staff?
- How to improve equipment availability for all reusable equipment?
- How to optimize use of RFID and other technology options to improve labor productivity as it relates to patient floor equipment?
- How to improve service levels for equipment not stocked on patient floors?
- How to layout the clean equipment rooms and soiled rooms on patient floors?
Our approach to patient floor supply and equipment management reinforces trust between supply chain staff and clinical staff which leads to lower involvement from clinical staff in managing reusable equipment. Here is a list of equipment considered for storage on patient floors:
• Infusion Pumps
• SCD Pumps/ALPs
• PCA Pumps
• Feeding Pumps
• K-Pads
• Suction
• Hypothermia Machines
• Syringe Pumps
• Specialty Beds
• Wound Vacs
Surgical supply and sterile processing related spaces are of prime importance in designing of new or replacement hospitals. Our consultants have worked inside hundreds of surgical supply and sterile processing operations across North America. Our design process will likely address the following key questions:
- How to optimize design elements of surgical storeroom, breakout room, sterile processing, instrument storage, sterile core, and OR suites as they relate to support operations?
- How to use lean six-sigma principles in improving surgical supply processes in future state?
- How to minimize the supply returns coming back after surgeries by designing optimal material flow processes?
- How to improve availability of equipment needed for surgeries?
- How to optimize design of anesthesia supply rooms and their delivery process?
- How to layout and organize supplies and instruments within surgical storeroom, sterile processing, surgical cores and OR suites?
- How to design spaces enabling improved JCAHO compliance?
- How to design optimal sterile processing spaces including location of sterilizers and overall process flow?
Our approach to surgical supply management reinforces trust between supply chain staff and clinical staff which leads to lower involvement from clinical staff in managing support functions.
Most healthcare facilities have their laundering facility outside the campus which adds to challenges in shipping soiled linen and distributing clean linen upon its arrival at loading docks. Our consultants have worked at many such operations across North America. Here are some key questions that our design process will address:
- How to design optimal space for storage of clean linen upon their arrival and soiled linen before their departure? This may include space to build clean linen
carts from bulk carts. - How to minimize number of touches involved in handling linen?
- How to minimize rewashing of clean linen with use of efficient linen distribution models?
- What are the right dispensing methods to make linen easily accessible to clinical staff? This will include scrubs.
- How to evaluate different layout models to improve linen distribution?
- How to improve JCAHO compliance specific to linen operations?
- What is the appropriate linen tracking technology?
- What are alternative technologies and automation options that could help streamline the linen distribution process?