Reimagining the Familiar: Lessons from Singapore's Hospital Transformation

Hospital operations center in Singapore

Innovation often comes from seeing the familiar through a new lens.

On my recent trip to Southeast Asia, I visited Singapore's Ministry of Health. There, I witnessed a perfect example of this principle in action—and it was mind-blowingly good.

The Ministry of Health has revolutionized hospital operations by treating patient flow as a logistics challenge. I observed their hospital operations center, and I was astounded by their innovative approach: They've reimagined the entire process of managing patients—from admission to bed occupancy to discharge—as a complex flow problem to be optimized.

Each patient who comes in gets a little monitor strapped to their belt or wrist, allowing real-time tracking throughout the hospital. When a hospital staff member asks, “Where's John?” another member can say, “Oh, he's in X-ray right now. He's about to exit into Room 4, which was cleaned 15 minutes ago."

Patient tracking monitor

This innovative approach has resulted in an incredible 85-90% occupancy rate with minimal wait times in the waiting room. It's particularly crucial for a system preparing for rapid aging—by 2030, 30% of Singapore's population will be 65 or older.

What Singapore's healthcare leaders have done is lean into what I call "liminal space"—a state of transition where old rules no longer apply, and new ideas can flourish. This liminal space is critical for seamless change and innovation, yet I rarely see organizations intentionally creating it to support disruptive thinking.

In the Ministry of Health's case, their total reimagining of patient care has allowed them to create a system that's both more efficient and more responsive to patient needs. This transformation didn't happen by accident—it required leaders to be willing to suspend traditional healthcare paradigms and explore new possibilities.

But you don't have to overhaul an entire healthcare system to see the familiar through a new lens. Here are some ways you can create liminal space in your own organization:

  1. Change physical perspectives: Rearrange seating in meetings or have walking meetings instead of sit-down ones. A literal change in viewpoint can lead to metaphorical ones.

  1. Use storytelling: Share stories about customers or problems that open up new ways of thinking. Collaborative storytelling creates a shared liminal space where innovative solutions can emerge.

  1. Practice mindfulness: Simple meditation or deep breathing exercises can create mental liminal spaces, allowing for fresh insights and ideas.

Each of these techniques, like the Ministry of Health’s approach to patient flow, involves stepping out of established patterns to see challenges from new angles.

My visit to Singapore sparked fascinating discussions about AI in healthcare, managing disruption, and developing AI regulations in medical settings. These conversations, too, took place in a kind of liminal space—a meeting point between current practices and future possibilities.

I’m not a healthcare expert, but this disruptive lens seems essential to meet future challenges in global health. I found it incredibly valuable to witness this work. 

Disruption can be daunting, sure, but it opens doors to possibilities. The key is to create and embrace these liminal spaces, where we can reimagine our challenges and conceive previously inconceivable solutions.

What disruption in your field excites you about the future? How might you create liminal space to foster that kind of innovative thinking? Hit reply and let me know what you're thinking about!

— Charlene

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Charlene Li

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