I found out today that we may be moving our Blood Bank Department to another area of the main lab. The primary reason is because we have lost several techs recently and we need to make our work area as efficient as possible for our reduced staff. I am not going to have very much time and very little money to redesign the area. I know that many of you are very talented and experienced and have probably been through this yourself. Are there any experts that can recommend a source for information or advice? We are a 300 bed hospital and will need 1-3 workstations - though we rarely have more than one BB tech scheduled per shift. Also - the Blood Bank Department includes Urinalysis and Serology and this designated area will have to accomodate those areas as well. Thank you in advance for your words of wisdom.

What an opportunity! Sounds like a great LEAN project, and a chance to undo any waste and inefficiency built up over the years out of prior necessity.

I'd make sure that the workflow is optimized for minimal movement and linear flow (spagetti diagrams), and that the terminals, printer locations and workareas fit the work pattern.

It's also a chance to modify some of your work processes that you've been dying to change ...

I'm guessing you are already automated, but, if not, be sure to plan space and work flow for that (and any other changes on the 5 year horizon).

When we remodeled 10 years ago, we had a stand on wheels built for our plt incubator. It has file drawers underneath and a "bread board" that pulls out. It has often been near the plasma freezer and we greatly appreciated extra space on the bread board when logging in plasma etc. I am all for moveable furniture for future flexibility.