NOVEMBER 14, 2022 — At HMSL, the hospital’s business system, also known as Performance Excellence, is designed to help employees implement process improvements – both large and small – to improve efficiency and break down silo mentalities.
One core tool in Performance Excellence is Kaizen, a concept that originated in Japan after World War II. It refers to continuous improvements that involve employees at all levels. A Kaizen event is a planned session that involves a team of employees from across the hospital, focusing on a particular activity to solve existing problems and generate ideas for streamlining or other enhancements.
One activity that the team recently focused on was related to how their Main Environmental Services (EVS) supply room was stocked. Navigating the supplies themselves was a challenge because the room had become disorganized over time. Nothing had a set place, and boxes were everywhere. There was no ladder for reaching items on shelves. Finding anything was inefficient; filling the day’s needs was time-consuming. The disorganization and inefficiency also prevented the EVS team from implementing another key hospital process in EVS – an automated PARx materials tracking software.
To address the problems, Paula Govain, Environmental Services team lead, recently led a Kaizen event to help improve the Main supply room, where most of the hospital’s housekeeping supplies are kept – everything from cleaning solutions to paper towels. From there, staff members provide daily supplies to Environmental Services staff throughout the hospital, eliminating the need for them to come back to the Main supply room to restock.
Govain led the effort to get things cleaned up, put away and organized in a thoughtful manner. Her team wanted to make it easy for staff members who stock the floors to see and select everything quickly.
“We took everything out, repaired and painted the walls and cleaned the floors,” said Govain. “We added a fire extinguisher for safety and made sure the eye wash station was in good working order.”
Then, the Kaizen team sectioned off the room with tape so that every type of item would have its place. This practice is known as 5S, which stands for sort, store, shine, standardize and sustain.
“That will make it easy to know where things are now, and where they go when they are ordered,” she said.
Various racks were installed with bins to hold various items, and every bin was labeled. Items were removed from boxes so they are easy to identify. The number of cabinets was reduced from six to one.
“We had too many items locked in cabinets, which meant the staff was constantly having to find someone with a key to get what they needed,” Govain said.
The decluttering efforts have made a significant difference, saving time and effort.
“Now, when it’s time to restock the floors, we can come in here and everything is visible,” she said. “It’s easy to see what you need and there’s no more hunting around for an item.”
The new set-up is also saving money, Govain said. “We can see when we are running out of an item and only order when we need something,” she said. “Before, it was a guessing game and we often ordered items that weren’t needed.”
Combined with the move to add housekeeping supplies to the PARx system, the revamped Main supply closet is saving time and improving morale.
“Our Environmental Services staff have more time now to focus on serving our patients and staff,” Govain said. “Everything is right where we need it, and we’re working smarter. That’s good for morale.”
EVS MAIN SUPPLY ROOM BEFORE 5S KAIZEN
EVS MAIN SUPPLY ROOM AFTER 5S KAIZEN
Robyn Malone-Koch says
Nice! Appreciate the full story, pictures and feedback! Great work!
Michelle Smith says
I am always impressed with the EVS staff. Friendly, Accountable and Team Players!!!
Amazing work!!!! Great Job!!!!
Luis Garcia says
An important aspect in this spectacular write-up is staff empowerment. Hector Medellin is featured in the EVS team photo. Hector is integral to the EVS supply room operations, and he’s been waiting for years to clean up that area. He is beaming with pride! Hector takes the time to show off the supply room even weeks after it went through the successful 5S transformation. EVS is all-in on Performance Excellence!!