While healthcare industry interest in anything RFID-, RTLS- and wireless-related continues to burn hot, actual facility adoptions and implementations have yet to catch up to the technology’s popularity, in part because hospitals may not be culturally, financially or operationally prepared to take the plunge and may question the return on investment. Even so, a growing number of facilities are jumping into the high-tech tracking world of chips and tags, portals and scanners, to keep a computer-driven, productivity-oriented eye on products, equipment, patients, employees or locations.

Using value analysis teams
by Ken Boggs, VHA

Even though sterile processing falls under the domain of infection control, according to The Joint Commission, infection control practitioners aren’t always adequately prepared to deal with the function due to their demanding schedules. But that may need to change as sterile processing’s output touches virtually every patient admitted to a healthcare facility.

Self Study Series
Extended steam sterilization cycles

Mention the term third-party logistics and you’ll likely conjure up tales of transportation and warehousing operations, how a limited number of self-directed integrated delivery networks (IDNs) manage their supply chain, how to get critical-need products fast or correct some inventory deficiency on the fly. While all may be true they represent only parts of the equation. In fact, third-party logistics services firms, sometimes referred to as "3PLs," are more pervasively intertwined in the healthcare supply chain than you may realize.

Having My Say
Addressing infection at the surface level
with Helen Kerr

Clinical Business Strategies
Materials management’s role in patient safety
by Andrew Knight