The Seven Wastes in Health Care

What is waste in health care?

Waste in health care is any activity that doesn’t add value to patient care. Value is determined by our patients. The terms value-added and non-value added are commonly used to help identify waste:

Value-added (VA) refers to any work activity that contributes in a meaningful way to the patient’s care provision (like a visit with a clinician) or information about that care (like test results).

A step is value-added if it adds to the patient's care provision or information about that care.

Icon	The Seven Wastes	Common Health Care Examples
	Defects/mistakes: Time and material spent doing something wrong and, later, fixing it.	Duplicate MRNs Correct labs not ordered Misdiagnosis Hospital-acquired conditions
	Waiting: When patients or their information sits in a queue. Some definitions include employee wait time.	Emergency department wait time Lab processing Clinic wait rooms Clinic exam rooms
	Transportation: Moving patients or materials between work centers.	Moving patients from department to department Moving information through email or electronic medical record (EMR) Moving meals from cafeteria to unit floor
	Overproduction: Producing more than is needed. Producing too soon.	Delaying discharge Keeping urinary catheter in too long Making a meal the patient doesn't eat
	Overprocessing: Doing more work than needed.	Asking patients to fill out duplicate paperwork Performing a surgery when a non-invasive intervention will suffice Ordering and completing unnecessary tests, diagnostics and therapies
	Inventory can expire, get damaged, and become obsolete. Also applies to stored information.	Drawing and keeping blood samples (rainbow draws) Keeping too much bedside equipment Preprinting forms
	Motion: Unnecessary movement within a work station.	Navigating through the EMR Hunting and gathering materials and equipment Walking—from the health unit coordinator (HUC) station to the med room to the patient room