Utilizing integrated facility design to improve the quality of a pediatric ambulatory surgery center.

Aim: The aim was to use Integrated Facility Design (IFD) to design a surgery center that enhances the delivery of health care by developing processes that provide highly efficient patient, family, and provider flows while adding value and utilizing costly resources effectively.

Background: Integrated Facility Design is an adaptation of the Toyota 3P (Production, Preparation, Process) Program. The goal of IFD is to accelerate development time and lower start-up costs.

Results: The use of IFD produced a savings of $30 million in project costs and enabled a completion date 3.5 months ahead of schedule. The designed patient flow processes resulted in dramatic improvements in patient, family, and provider throughput.

Conclusions: The use of IFD in the design of a pediatric ambulatory clinic and surgery resulted in significant cost savings and improved clinical efficiency.