McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital

Company Profile: With proximity to Cincinnati and Dayton, McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital (MHMH) serves nearly 80,000 patients annually. MHMH was faced with rising costs, workforce shortages and the increased emphasis on patient safety and quality during a time of enormous change in the Healthcare industry. Because of these pressures and the enormous opportunity to eliminate waste in its systems, McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital partnered with TechSolve to drive Lean improvements throughout the hospital.

Project: MHMH chose its Operating Room (OR) area as a starting point for its Lean transformation because its operating room had many opportunities for improvements and the OR team was preparing to transition into a new information technology system. MHMH and TechSolve identified three primary strategies to reduce waste in this area including improvement in inventory management techniques to drive cost savings, improvement in their inventory space utilization, and improvement in their staff and surgeon satisfaction. TechSolve and the hospital first teamed up to assess and document the current processes, inventory, workflow and layout issues of the operating room. As part of building a sustainable Lean culture within these areas, hospital administration, Lean team leaders, and nearly all OR staff were provided with Lean training so they could support the identification and implementation of improvements.

TechSolve implemented Kanban inventory management techniques, improving supply locations across the various service lines, reducing duplication of supply locations, and eliminating excess supplies. As part of the project, a catalogue of inventory was created, giving the staff the ability to order by inventory location as well as improving the organization of supplies being delivered to the department. Additional improvements were implemented throughout the department including workplace organization (5S) and the establishment of OR exchange carts. These exchange carts made the ordering process for everyday supplies and linen more efficient and organized.

Results: As a result of driving Lean improvements, restocking OR inventory has been improved by 46% for central supply items and 34% for non-stock items. On-hand inventory has been reduced 35%, yielding a $256,000 impact to the bottom line of the hospital. The Lean project was also successful in reducing travel distance and time necessary to pick cases, improving workspace, and staff efficiency. The creation of an inventory catalog system helped to reduce inventory errors and the ability to determine the location of an item within the department. Overall the Lean process has created a process-driven, not people-driven process and has helped to prepare McCullough-Hyde for the transition into its new IT system.


Quote: “Ultimately, we have created a process-driven vs. people-driven atmosphere within the OR. Team building, ownership and enthusiasm all combined to make work easier, more accurate and will ultimately provide patients with better and safer care. This implementation has created a cultural shift which is noticeable throughout the other areas of the hospital.”

Theresa Via, Quality Assurance Director