As hospitals and other healthcare
facilities grapple with all sorts of fiscal doomsday scenarios in advance of a
complete rollout of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act reform package in
January, C-suite executives are leaving no stone unturned for cost-cutting
opportunities – including closer ties to Supply Chain Operations.
Temperature is one of the
four vital signs and if not maintained also can serve as one of the four
horsemen of clinical/surgical apocalypse. Unintended hypothermia can cause
immune-system impairment. Infection can emerge at the surgical site. Failure
to maintain normothermia can cause impaired wound healing, cardiac events,
increased blood loss and transfusions, and more, all of which translates to
longer healing times and costly, lengthened hospital stays.
Responsible provision and use of
personal protective equipment (PPE) carries with it implications that reach far
beyond meeting requirements mandated by the Occupational Safety & Health
Administration (OSHA). It provides assurance and peace of mind for the
healthcare worker certainly, but also one less worry for patients, as well as
hospital administration.
In an ideal world, where a
sterile processing and distribution department (SPD) can perform every step
of the cleaning, decontamination, disinfection and sterilization processes
flawlessly and in accordance with manufacturer instructions for use (IFU)
and industry standards, the risk of a contaminated instrument reaching a
surgeon’s hands is slim. But we neither live nor work in an ideal world.
When it comes to managing
freight – including inbound and outbound packaging, shipping and
transportation – just how efficient are healthcare facilities in doing it
really? In the short run, overnighting stuff can cover and hide a multitude
of inventory management, demand planning or even last-minute, sweat-inducing
product needing sins. Yet it can create a multitude of other sins, too.