About

Starting Semester: Spring 2027
Assigned: No
Location: Atlanta

Emory Healthcare

Client Profile

The Emory Healthcare Network, established in 2011, is the largest academically based, clinically integrated network in Georgia, with more than 3,800 physicians concentrating in 70 different subspecialties at over 580 provider locations. Our core purpose is to improve lives and provide hope by delivering exceptional care to our patients, their families and the communities we serve.

Project Description

Background:
Sterile Processing supports surgical operations by decontaminating, assembling, sterilizing, storing, and distributing surgical instruments. Performance is affected by variation in demand, tray complexity, staffing, equipment capacity, processing time, and coordination with the OR. Delays, rework, missing instruments, or incomplete trays can affect surgical readiness and case flow.

Opportunity:
Analyze the end-to-end SPD process to identify bottlenecks, sources of variation, quality defects, rework, capacity constraints, and mismatches between demand and available resources. The analysis should distinguish systemic process issues from isolated events and determine which factors have the greatest effect on tray availability and reliability.


Client Need:

Desired Outcome:
Develop and evaluate future-state alternatives that improve tray flow, quality, turnaround time, and reliability to the OR. Recommendations should quantify the expected impact and distinguish between short-term operational improvements and longer-term opportunities involving staffing, capacity, equipment, automation, or technology.


Scope and Deliverables:

Scope:
Focus on selected high-volume or high-impact SPD workflows from decontamination through tray availability for the OR. Analysis may include demand patterns, processing times, staffing, equipment utilization, tray inventory, defects, rework, and OR-related delays. Major capital implementation, facility redesign, and purchasing decisions are outside the project scope.

Primary Deliverable:
A validated current-state model, quantified sources of delay and variation, and a prioritized set of tested future-state alternatives.

Skills

• Process Mapping and Value Stream Analysis
• Lean / Process Improvement
• Data and Statistical Analysis
• Time Studies and Work Measurement
• Statistical Process Control and Variation Analysis
• Capacity and Workload Analysis
• Root Cause Analysis
• Discrete-Event Simulation and Process Modeling
• Future-State Process Design

Data Access Requirement