Posted by Carola Endicott on Thu, Jun 24, 2010 @ 04:38 AM
At WaveMark we have come across many examples of inventory and supply chain systems in healthcare which require a person to count products by hand. The goal of these manual counts is to determine the daily requisitions for cycle counts or for an annual physical count. In our earliest days back in 2005 we worked with a customer in a Cath Lab in Utica, NY where we validated the ability of an RFID-enabled cabinet to accurately count its contents. We printed out a report generated by the cabinet and then the two of us proceeded to count the entire contents of the cabinet - about 200 medical supplies - coronary stents and balloons. Every week we thought we had found an error in the cabinet. And every week, we found both of us were wrong. We recounted and finally one after another, we matched the automated count. Besides providing statistical validation of the ability of RFID tags to be read by a specially outfitted cabinet, this also provided a window into an area for enormous improvement opportunity. That lab went from one RFID-enabled cabinet to 10 in order to expand this capability to all of their high value products and they went from spending 2 hours a day compiling their order to 15 minutes.
Since that time, we have accumulated many stories of humans who can't count accurately, or if they do , take a long time to do so. In one busy Cath Lab in Iowa we found that they were spending an hour and a half every morning counting stents and balloons on hand in order to place an order into their Materials system. This cumbersome system was very time consuming and error-prone because a human being was doing something humans aren't good at - counting. The time and accuracy gained from RFID-enabled cabinets allowed them to reduce their "just-in-time" stock and spend valuable human beings' energy on activities more suited to their natural talents.
In another example, the WaveMark inventory management software powered by the cabinets reduced the daily counting chore to the point where the inventory person was able to take on inventory duties for an additional department, work previously done by a nurse who spent half his time counting and ordering. By allowing the nurse to go back into the procedures where he was most valuable, the hospital was able to save money and increase employee satisfaction.
We are fortunate to live in a time when technology takes on the chores that are tedious, leaving more time for human beings to focus on activities that are more interesting, valuable, and, even sometimes, fun.
This is only a small part of one Cath Lab's inventory. This photo represents $500,000 in inventory. RFID enabled cabinets provide accuracy and peace of mind.
Posted by Colleen Terry on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 @ 07:11 AM
The RFID in Healthcare show in Dallas last week highlighted many uses of RFID. As in past years, the emphasis was again on asset tracking and using active and UHF tags. There was, however, one presentation that excited attendees with its proven success in using item-level HF RFID tracking to streamline workflow for clinicians.
The implementation of RFID for hospital inventory management has provided this particular hospital with the automation and information necessary to enable clinicians to be better clinicians.
Streamlined Clinical Processes = Better care for patients
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Nurses and techs are now confident when the physician asks for a particular product, they will have it readily available. Automated RFID tracks product usage and recommends par levels, ensuring the right products are always available. Prior to RFID, nurses and techs sometimes had to leave the procedure room - making multiple trips daily to other buildings or down the stairs - in search of a particular product needed for a case
- Clinicians are able to stay in the room longer with patients, post-op. Physical counts are completed every 20 minutes by the RFID cabinets and procedure rooms are easily restocked using an automated restocking report - even 2 - 3 times per day, freeing nurses from the duty of counting products before and after each procedure
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Nurses can confidently pull any product from the shelf and be relieved of the constant worry of an expired or recalled product reaching a patient. Automated expiration and recall management, with built in safety alerts, is available with RFID. 
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Documenting cases is accurate and fully automated with the integration of RFID inventory control with other hospital systems. Nurses are no longer burdened with manual data entry; just a wave the box sends product barcode and serial/lot # to the appropriate hospital information systems for billing, replenishment and clinical documentation
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Job satisfaction for nurses has improved dramatically. Nurses are happier being nurses and not worrying about supplies.
Read a case study article on how RFID is improving patient care through nurse satisfaction.
Posted by Colleen Terry on Wed, Dec 16, 2009 @ 10:42 AM
The cost of medical advances continues to escalate, requiring labs to invest more dollars in products that promise to provide a higher standard of living for suffering patients. Inventory costs can quickly spiral out of control when the quantity and variety of products becomes more than a person can count and manage. Oftentimes, specialty procedure labs get caught with having too much product on hand, because the alternative has far greater consequences. This "just in case" inventory costs labs tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in carrying costs. To effectively manage the right mix of products, analyze your usage patterns closely and set reorder points accordingly.
Managing inventory in a special procedure lab such as the Cath lab, is a fine balancing act. Making sure the right products are available at the right time for the right procedure is the minimum every patient deserves. With the variety of products increasing and the expiration times decreasing, The Joint Commission implemented a time out procedure in response to improving patient safety. This requirement states that doctors must review the details of the procedure with the patient or a family member, including the type of procedure, exactly where on the body the procedure will take place and verification that the necessary products are available to perform the procedure. To ensure the right products are available establish par levels to optimize inventory by first understanding product specific usage patterns.
Effectively managing expiration dates and efficiently responding to product recalls can be a daunting task for any lab. To be in compliance, labs cannot have any product with an expiration date older than today's date or have a recalled product on the shelf, for doing so can put patients at risk. Thus, The Joint Commission inspects labs unannounced, ensuring labs are always attentive to expiration tracking and recall management to remain in compliance. Inventory should be managed in such a way that clinical staff have visibility into expiration dates to properly rotate product out before it's too late. An alert system should also be established to respond to recalls in a timely manner.
Summary: Cost containment, patient safety and regulatory compliance are 3 significant areas of concern that hospitals face on an ongoing basis. To improve upon these areas, an astute review of current inventory practices must be conducted to determine that there is proper visibility and accuracy of on-hand inventory levels and usage patterns to make decisions regarding inventory optimization. Taking the time to review hospital protocol and procedures in managing the overwhelming number of products used in a busy specialty lab can make the difference in a patient's well being, as well as the hospital's bottom line.
Learn how a mid-west hospital addressed all three of these concerns by automating their inventory management processes. Download an ROI white paper.