Challenge
As a hospital that performs over 300 complex surgical cases every month, the Sterile Processing Department faced several issues managing its case load:
- Lack of Digital Tracking: The Sterile Processing Department was tracking loaner trays with a pen and paper process that was driven by the vendor representatives. The process lacked consistent protocols which meant the Sterile Processing Department was only tracking which trays were coming into the hospital, and not tracking the accuracy of those trays and when they were leaving.
- Inaccurate Forecasting: Without a digital process, the Sterile Processing Department couldn’t appropriately forecast for surgeries and capture how many loaner trays they were processing a month. On average, they believed they were processing about 500-700 loaner trays a month when they were processing between 2000-2500.
Solution
The hospital implemented ReadySet Surgical’s Track & Coordinate solutions for loaner equipment.
Vendor reps benefits:
- Real-time case invitations
- Efficient check in of loaner trays
- Total transparency
SPD staff benefits:
- Real-time tray status
- Daily case cart planning
- Total transparency
Results
After implementing ReadySet Track & Coordinate, the hospital gained several efficiences in its loaner management process, including:
- A true understanding of the amount of loaner trays they were processing each month. With the data, the Sterile Processing Department quickly hired two additional full-time employees to support the team.
- They began to track the lead time to vendor representatives and increased that lead time from an average of 5.2 days to 7.9 days, for an increase of 51.9%.
- With ReadySet solutions, the Sterile Processing Department now tracks the number of trays, the time they arrive, which vendors follow the protocols and when the trays leave the hospital.
- While managing vendors is always tricky, the Sterile Processing Department now has data to support conversations around on-time delivery.
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