ABSTRACT
It is common to talk about “surgical precision.” But lots of places in hospitals are seriously messy. 5S is the name given to a structured process of putting workplaces in order. Putting things in order makes things easier to find. 5S is about more than simply putting things into some kind of order. It is about how things are used, who uses them, when and where they are used, and how to organize their storage and retrieval so that commonly used things are close to hand. It is process thinking in action. Many areas in hospitals are in common use. Putting things in order means thinking about how to standardize and simplify storage and retrieval so that, for all users, access is easy.
