• Stryker has helped Jura Hospital Scheßlitz manage and move its medical supplies more efficiently.
  • Bert Hoffmann (middle right), Stryker’s lean management team senior consultant, confers with Jura Hospital Scheßlitz administrators Manfred Fischer (left), general manager, Stefan Schatz, OR manager, and Brigitte Angermann, assistant general manager.
  • Greater efficiency supports patient and staff satisfaction within the hospital, improving the quality and increasing the quantity of medical treatment.

Resources for a higher performing hospital.

Stryker is in the business of medical technology. And by today’s definition of healthcare, that also puts us in the business of medical efficiency, which is why our relationships with doctors and hospitals increasingly extend beyond the operating room to the entire clinical setting. In Germany, Stryker teams are consulting with hospitals to help them become more efficient, while enhancing patient experiences and improving staff satisfaction. Since 2007, our lean management and knowledge-transfer expertise has made us an indispensable partner to Jura Hospital Scheßlitz, a small, rural hospital with 120 beds. Our team initially trained eight Scheßlitz employees to optimize processes in the hospital’s operating room and central outpatient department, where unplanned overtime and decreasing employee motivation were key issues.

The results were soon apparent—they streamlined inventories from 17,000 to 1,000 items, reorganized instruments and devices for faster deployment and helped plan staff and financial resources more comprehensively. As a result, the hospital shortened waiting and operation times, increased patient flow and capacity and improved satisfaction for patients and hospital staff alike. Financially, the project succeeded beyond expectations—identifying potential additional revenue of $1.5 million, of which the hospital has already realized 70%.