Project Overview
The project entailed relocating the University of Chicago Medicine Labor and Delivery Unit from Mitchell Hospital to shell space on the third floor of Comer Children's Hospital. The change provides new mothers with a modern, state-of-the-art facility and immediate access to Comer's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The new unit has nine labor/delivery/recovery (ldr) rooms, five triage rooms, two operating rooms and five antepartum rooms.
Approach
The University of Chicago Medicine Operational Excellence team partnered with Anderson Mikos Architects, Berglund Construction and the staff and patients of the hospital to complete a Kaizen event. During this event, we brought key stakeholders of the project together to collectively design the new space to optimize the flow of patients, staff, medications and services. Before construction commenced, the design was tested through full-scale mockups within the final space. Using inexpensive foam board and the dedication of key stakeholders, the Project Team ran mock scenarios of real-life emergent and non-emergent events. Over the course of these mock scenarios, the team made small improvements to the proposed final state without costly delays or rework during construction.
Outcomes
The result of the Kaizen event was shared success for all key stakeholders. Most importantly, the end user and patients of the Labor and Delivery Unit experienced better patient care through shorter travel and wait times. Waste due to rework in design and construction was eliminated after testing the final state.
With learnings gained from mock scenarios, the team made small improvements to the proposed final state without costly delays or rework during construction.
Overall, the Kaizen event served as a catalyst to operational excellence within the new unit for all key stakeholders.