Healthcare / Free editable template

Spaghetti diagram for a nurse medication round template

A spaghetti diagram traces the path someone walks while they work, which makes wasted movement easy to see. This example draws one nurse's morning medicines round on a ward plan: a red route with three trips back to the medicines room, and a blue route after stocking a trolley for the whole round.

This is a planning example for process improvement, not clinical guidance. Follow your organisation's policies and clinical protocols.

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Spaghetti diagram for a nurse medication round example showing ward floor plan with bays and rooms, before and after routes with numbered stops, measures table and change to test
Everything in this example is editable. Replace the labels, move the shapes and adapt the layout to your work.

How to use this template

  1. Draw your ward

    Rename and move the rooms to match your ward layout. It does not need to be to scale, but keep rooms in the right relative positions so the route lengths look honest.

  2. Follow one round

    Shadow a nurse with their agreement and mark each stop in order, including interruptions. Count trips to the medicines room and note what caused each one, such as a missing item.

  3. Draw the proposed route

    Add a second route for the change you want to test and compare the two. Record time and distance from observation, because the drawing itself does not measure them.

Questions about this template

How do I draw my own before and after routes?

Use the pen to trace each trip on the ward plan and number the stops in order. Keep the before and after routes in different colours so the difference is easy to see.

Do I need an account to use it?

No. Open the template and edit it in your browser. Your work saves on this device. An account is optional if you want to sync your workspace.

Can I export the finished diagram?

Yes. Use Export in the editor to save a PNG, SVG or PDF, or download an editable .epicdraw backup.

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