The Healthcare Manager's Playbook

If you have ever spent more than five minutes searching for a wheelchair, you have experienced waste.

Not the kind of waste that shows up on a report, but the kind that pulls you away from a patient, breaks the rhythm of your treatment, and adds unnecessary frustration to your day.

One of the most practical ways to reduce waste is through workplace organization. 5S is a simple, effective framework used to organize physical workspaces such as storage closets, cabinets, and therapy gyms. The goal is straightforward: spend less time searching and more time caring for patients.

The benefits of 5S are easy to see and feel. An organized workplace leads to less hassle, less wasted time, and more time at the bedside. Fewer frustrations mean greater focus on treatment. In a rehabilitation setting, that time and attention directly translate to better patient care.

This post explores 5S through a real-world example: organizing our wheelchair storage room.

This project was selected based on staff feedback. One example coming from a PRN therapist: “Equipment issues are extremely frustrating. A lot of time is being wasted hunting down an appropriate size wheelchair or locating working parts. The wheelchair room often only has two to three chairs available, and most of the time they are there because they are broken or missing parts. Many times parts are on a cart, and it is unclear whether they are clean or dirty.”

Feedback like this should not be accepted as the status quo. Everyone deserves to work in an organized environment. In our case, disorganization had gone on too long. We needed to do better, and 5S was the solution.

5S stands for Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. While straightforward in theory, implementation can be challenging. Each step is outlined below, along with common obstacles.

1. Sort is the starting point. The goal is to eliminate clutter and make it easier to find what is needed. Remove anything that does not belong. In the wheelchair room, this included broken chairs, mismatched leg rests, damaged accessories, outdated equipment, and general clutter. If something cannot be repaired in a reasonable time, it should be removed. A common obstacle is hesitation to throw things away. A helpful rule is this: if you cannot remember the last time it was used, it likely does not need to stay. For example, we cleared out an entire shelf of outdated bed trapeze poles that had not been used in years. When in doubt, create a temporary holding area. Items stay there until the end of the week. If unclaimed, they are discarded.
2. Set in Order focuses on organizing what remains. Every item should have a defined location. When everything has a home, clinicians know exactly where to go. Time spent searching drops significantly. In the wheelchair room, shelves were reconfigured so wheelchairs could be folded and stored underneath. Dividers were installed to keep leg rests in matching pairs. Cushions, trays, and accessories were labeled and stored on designated shelves.
3. Shine goes beyond basic cleaning. It is about maintaining both the space and the equipment. Cleaning under and behind shelves is important, but so is routine inspection. Processes should be in place to ensure wheelchairs and accessories are checked regularly. We adopted the mindset that patients spend a significant portion of their time in a wheelchair. If it does not look good or function properly, it reflects poorly on the hospital. Clean, well-maintained equipment became part of delivering a high-quality patient experience.
4. Standardize creates clarity and consistency. This includes visual cues and defined routines. One example from the wheelchair room was adding a red vinyl stripe to all right leg rests, making it easy to identify matching pairs at a glance. Storage areas were labeled and divided so every item had a clear home. Cushions, arm troughs, trays, and accessories were stored in the same location every time. Checklists were created, and specific times were established for daily review and maintenance. As technician responsibilities shifted with patient care demands, these expectations were built into end-of-day routines. Every wheelchair was returned clean, intact, inspected, and placed in its assigned location.
5. Sustain is about reinforcing behavior and maintaining accountability. It answers a simple question: are we actually doing what we said we would do? To support sustainability, monthly inventory checks and weekly audits were implemented. Results were reviewed, feedback was provided, and expectations were reinforced during performance reviews. Without sustainment, even the best organized space will gradually return to disorder. Sustain is what prevents standardization from becoming a one-time effort.

In practice, 5S is not about cleaning a room once. It is about creating an environment where problems are visible and easy to address. It is about making the right way the easy way.

In a clinical setting, this has direct implications for safety and patient positioning. Something as simple as a missing cushion or support can reinforce poor posture, such as hip or shoulder internal rotation, and negatively impact recovery, especially for patients recovering from stroke.

The impact on patient care is real. When equipment is easy to find, in good working order, and ready to use, therapists spend less time away from patients and more time doing what matters most: helping patients get better. That is where the real value is. Time spent helping patients is never a waste. 5S simply helps ensure that more of our time is spent doing exactly that.

About the Author: Shane Haas serves as the National Director of Outpatient Services at Ernest Health, a leading provider of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation. He enjoys learning and sharing leadership and management principles. His backgrounds in Physical Therapy (UF ’96) and Industrial Engineering (TTU ’02) provide a balanced heart and head perspective that shapes the Healthcare Managers’ Playbook.

Additional Resources:

1. Graban, M. (2016). Lean hospitals: Improving quality, patient safety, and employee engagement (3rd ed.). Productivity Press.