Congratulations to Acmena Principal Consultant, Grace Kennedy, on her successful presentation at the Institute of Healthcare Engineering Australia (IHEA) National Conference this month.

A chartered systems engineer and human factors professional, Grace has extensive experience in the pragmatic application of systems engineering techniques in non-systems engineering organisations in various sectors, including healthcare.

In her paper “Holistic Systems Approaches to Lean Healthcare”, Grace provided insights into how systems thinking along with a blend of lean principles and SE are being used successfully to more efficiently identify and resolve problems in healthcare.

Although systems engineering has been applied in the development of complex medical devices, it is not commonplace in large infrastructure development projects, facilities operations or maintenance.

The benefits of applying a human-centred systems engineering approach to the sector are the development of tailored solutions that improve the productivity and efficiency in the system, while reducing fragmentation and ultimately removing activities that contribute no value or increase risk to patients, healthcare workers or the healthcare system itself.

“Attending the IHEA conference was a great opportunity to meet people from both the healthcare infrastructure build and facilities operations worlds,” said Grace. “It was fascinating to learn about their challenges along with the latest technologies and initiatives.

“With this year’s theme being sustainability that extends beyond environmental concerns and inspires the adoption of holistic approaches, lean healthcare systems engineering has the potential to improve healthcare systems at a level that encompasses the people, organisations, processes and technologies.”

Providing a uniquely integrated service, supported by a combination of systems engineering, assurance and human factors expertise, Acmena has proven experience in helping clients to deliver complex infrastructure projects.

Whether it’s healthcare, transport, infrastructure or energy, find out how we can help you deliver your next project quicker and with greater certainty by visiting acmena.com.au

Profile: Grace Kennedy | Principal Consultant

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