CLIENT:
Indian River Medical Center CASE STUDY
Vero Beach, FL
Understanding the unique needs of a facility and its population are critical to developing the best solution. In communities with limited choices, emergency departments serve many roles. Understanding the unique needs of a facility and its population are critical to developing the best solution. One size no longer fits all. We employ lean operational improvement strategies to help each client focus their resources to achieve the greatest impact.
CHALLENGE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A fractured check-in and triage process
Value stream mapping is a lean tool used to help clients quickly assess their current
that evolved over time left patients
condition, map patient flows impacted by the process, identify areas for improvement
waiting in long queues and sharing private
or streamlining, then establish an ideal future state. The future work flow is the critical
information in the open lobby. Safety and
first step to create a viable and sustainable project.
length of stay concerns prompted Array to
Through a multidisciplinary workshop, often consisting of two or three sessions, a
suggest a complete throughput analysis
cross-functional team gathers to solve a specific problem. When appropriate, data is
before developing front door renovation
collected between sessions to focus improvement activities.
solutions.
We began this project with current state process mapping and observation. Seeing how the system operates, we can understand where bottlenecks and system failures
SOLUTION
might be occurring. The mapping session highlights discrepancies between how the
Value Stream Mapping
Data collection helped pinpoint the areas where the team believed a problem might
system should operate, and how it is actually working. be occurring, and helped them determine the root cause of the issue. After collecting
After careful data collection and process
data, we used future state mapping to design an improved patient flow, which
analysis, an improved future state process
involved developing a split-flow model, rather than traditional triage.
was developed and implemented with only minor space reconfigurations. The
Array developed a transformation plan so the team knew which changes were
facility was able to test the process in their
necessary to turn the newly designed future state into reality. With help from process
current department to be sure it would
improvement experts, the emergency department team was able to improve their
drive improvement before expending
waiting times in a small space, with very little construction.
capital dollars.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
7
Process Times Collected
4
Data Sources Provided Insight
3
Spaces Re-purposed to Fit New Process