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How to Ensure That Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers Never Run Out of Blood

August 30, 2021wpadmin Blood Management Clinical Documentation Hospital Management Infection Control Patient Safety

All blood is precious, but type O-negative blood has especially high importance in Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers. Shortage of blood is a barrier to properly treat trauma patients, provide blood transfusions, and conduct surgeries. For patients whose lives hang in the balance, Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments require Type O-negative blood to perform life-saving procedures. O-negative blood is often called the ‘universal blood type’ because nearly anyone can receive it. This makes it vitally important in an emergency or when a patient’s blood type is unknown.

Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments need to document blood at a high level to make sure that they keep an accurate count of inventory and re-order blood when needed. However, due to the hectic nature of their operations, Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments often struggle to properly document blood. Currently they’re required to track blood when it arrives in their department, keep a clear record of which blood was used on which patients, and stay on top of other important data like expiration dates. Another challenge with tracking blood is that it has a shelf life of 48 days, so any miscalculation in record-keeping can lead to wasted blood, which hospitals absolutely cannot afford.

Mobile Aspects has produced a solution to automatically document the usage of blood, with a clear goal that Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers never run out of uncrossmatched blood by keeping an accurate record of blood and making sure it is always ordered when needed. iRISecure-Blood is the first and only RFID (radio frequency identification) blood tracking and documentation system designed specifically for Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments. The product was designed to bring automation to Trauma Centers and EDs so that staff can focus on the patient rather than filling out grueling forms and data logs. The system can be integrated with the blood supplier’s information systems to provide seamless communication between a blood bank and its blood supplier, as well as to the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) to provide automatic documentation in the patient’s medical record. The system also automatically records valuable information about each blood transfusion such as serial number and expiration date. Alerts are provided to remind hospital staff about expiration dates and blood that has been out of cold storage for too long.

iRISecure-Blood solves many documentation and workflow issues that most Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments face. With this new solution, Trauma Centers can make sure they never run out of uncrosmatched blood. Sign up for a demo today to learn more about iRISecure-Blood.

What makes blood tracking in Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments so unique and how you can improve it

August 16, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Blood Management Clinical Documentation Hospital Management Infection Control Patient Safety

An insufficient blood supply can have severe negative impacts on hospitals, especially in a Trauma Centers or Emergency Department. A shortage of blood is an obstacle to properly treat trauma patients, provide blood transfusions, and conduct elective surgeries. Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments require Type O-negative blood, which is also known as uncrossmatched blood, for patients whose live hang in the balance. O-negative blood is often called the ‘universal blood type’ because nearly anyone can receive it. This makes it vitally important in an emergency or when a patient’s blood type is unknown.

According to the Red Cross, only 7% of people have type O negative blood, and there is currently only a half-day supply nationwide. With COVID-19 being a primary reason for blood shortages worldwide, the donation of this blood type has taken a significant hit. Also, it is reported by the Red Cross that there has been a 10% increase in blood requests from Trauma Centers since 2019. These factors show how important O-negative blood can be in saving someone’s life.

One of the issues Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments have been facing is proper documentation of blood. That includes tracking blood when it arrives, keeping a clear record of which blood was used on which patients, and other important data like expiration dates. Another challenge with blood is that it has a shelf life of 48 days (about 1 and a half months), so any errors in record-keeping can lead to wasted blood, which hospitals absolutely cannot afford.

In order to bring innovation to an area desperately needing it, Mobile Aspects has produced a solution to automatically document the usage of blood. iRISecure-Blood is the first and only RFID (radio frequency identification) blood tracking and documentation system designed specifically for Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments. iRISecure-Blood was designed to bring automation to Trauma Centers and EDs so that staff can focus on the patient rather than filling out laborious forms and data logs. The system can be integrated with the blood supplier’s information systems to provide seamless communication between a blood bank and its blood supplier, as well as to the Electronic Medical Record to provide automatic documentation in the patient’s medical record. The system also automatically records important information about each blood transfusion such as serial number and expiration date. Alerts are provided to remind hospital staff about expiration dates and blood that has been out of cold storage for too long.

With its unique features, iRISecure-Blood solves many documentation and workflow issues that most Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments face. Sign up for a demo today to learn more about this groundbreaking product.

Why Documenting Blood Use in Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers Is So Critical

August 2, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Blood Management Clinical Documentation Hospital Management Infection Control Patient Safety

Documentation of supplies in hospitals is extremely important, and when it comes to uncrossmatched blood, also known as O –negative, it becomes absolutely critical. O-negative blood is the most required blood type in Emergency and Trauma centers due to its near universal applicability. Because of its broad applicability, time doesn’t need to be spent verifying blood types, which can eat up critical minutes in the case of a true emergency. Recently the Red Cross reported a 10% increase in blood requests from Trauma Centers since 2019. With a surge in blood need and a corresponding decrease in blood donations, due to a number of reasons including Covid-19, the proper management of blood by Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers has become a key component of quality patient care.

When it comes to the proper management and documentation of blood, Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers are usually facing an uphill battle. When a patient arrives at the Trauma Center or Emergency Department, there is rightfully a sense of urgency to care for the patient, and the manual processes required to document blood usage quickly break down. When all focus is on the patient on the table, manual documentation gets missed resulting in critical data loss. This lack of documentation can lead to devastating results, including a shortage of blood supply because re-orders are not being placed due to lack of communication. Another challenge with blood is that it has a shelf life of 48 days (about 1 and a half months), so any errors in record-keeping can lead to wasted blood, which hospitals absolutely can not afford.

To tackle this severe documentation challenge, Mobile Aspects has come up with a solution to automatically document the usage of blood. iRISecure Blood is the first and only RFID (radio frequency identification) blood tracking and documentation system designed specifically for Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments. It can track and document blood from the receipt at the hospital’s blood bank to the final transfusion to patient in the Trauma Center and everywhere in between. The system also tracks the time of receipt of blood into the blood bank, blood type, storage location, users, and can track when removed for transport to the Emergency Room or Trauma Center. The system can be integrated with the blood supplier’s information system to provide seamless communication between a blood bank and its blood supplier, as well as to the Electronic Medical Record to provide automatic documentation in the patient’s medical record.

For more information, connect with us and sign up for a demo today.

How a New Solution For Blood Bag Tracking Can Help Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers Improve Performance During a Blood Shortage

July 19, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Blood Management Clinical Documentation Hospital Management Infection Control Patient Safety

Type O negative blood is considered the universal blood type since it can be used for most recipients with a minimal risk of infection, making it beneficial in trauma situations where the time to crossmatch blood types is unavailable. However, due to factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic limiting donation opportunities and an increase in demand from Trauma Centers, all blood types including type O negative are in extremely short supply. The Red Cross announced that it is currently experiencing a “severe blood shortage.” Vitalant, one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit transfusion medicine organizations, said its blood supply is half of what it should be and is critically short for needed medical procedures across the country.

An insufficient blood supply can have a devastating effect on hospitals, which could struggle to properly treat trauma patients, provide blood transfusions, and conduct elective surgeries that have been on pause due to the pandemic. Also, the Covid-19 pandemic has limited blood donation opportunities like blood drives and has also caused a sense of hesitancy among donors according to donation centers. But, according to Vitalant and the Red Cross, it is not possible to spread or contract Covid-19 through donating or receiving blood, nor is a person required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to donate blood.

Regardless of the reasons, hospital blood banks are currently experiencing a shortage of blood that may become a full-blown crisis. Most Trauma Centers or Emergency Departments in hospitals have a blood bank to store blood for emergent situations. Tracking, controlling and documenting blood use in Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers is extremely difficult considering the hectic nature of the procedures performed there. One major obstacle to proper blood tracking is that most hospitals use manual, paper forms that pass through several hands during an emergency case. Because Trauma Centers typically use universal donor blood without crossmatching, they don’t always pay close enough attention to the documentation. This lack of documentation can lead to devastating results, including a shortage of blood supply because re-orders are not being placed due to lack of communication.

After being approached by a leading academic medical center in the Northeast, Mobile Aspects has come up with a solution to tackle these unique challenges. iRISecure Blood is the first and only RFID (radio frequency identification) blood tracking system designed specifically for Trauma Centers and Emergency Departments. It can track and document blood from the receipt at the hospital’s blood bank to the final transfusion to patient in the Trauma Center and everywhere in between. The system also tracks the time of receipt of blood into the blood bank, blood type, storage location, users, and can track when removed for transport to the Emergency Room or Trauma Center. The system can also be integrated with the blood supplier’s information system to provide seamless communication between a blood bank and its blood supplier, as well as to the Electronic Medical Record to provide automatic documentation in the patient’s medical record.

How a New Breed of Endoscope Channel Drying Cabinets Is Separating Itself From the Pack

June 30, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Hospital Management Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety Uncategorized

Based on evolving guidance around the reprocessing and disinfection of flexible endoscopes, many hospitals are updating their procedures to include the drying of endoscope channels. This is due to the increasing evidence that simply hanging scopes vertically or flushing channels with alcohol after disinfection still leaves moisture within channels. The Society of Gastroenterology Nurses & Associates (SGNA) guidelines advise that “drying the endoscope after every reprocessing cycle, both between patient procedures and before storage is a requisite practice crucial to the prevention of bacterial transmission and noscomial infection. Drying is as important to the prevention of disease transmission and noscomial infection as cleaning and high level disinfection.”

In order to effectively dry endoscope channels, many hospitals are investing in specialized cabinets that blow filtered air through the endoscope’s channels while being vertically hung. This additional measure helps to flush out any moisture that may have remained after scopes are run through automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs), reducing the possibility of bacterial growth. Many of the endoscope channel drying cabinets on the market pull air from the hospital’s central air supply system in order to generate the air that is then blown through the channels of the endoscope. The additional construction required to pull central air supply to the endoscope drying cabinets can cost hospitals over $100,000, often many times the expense of the drying cabinets alone.

With Mobile Aspects’ new endoscope channel drying cabinets, there is now no need to tap into the hospital’s central air supply system. Mobile Aspects’ iRIScope cabinets have their own air filtering system built in, saving hospitals a lot of money during installation. They also meet all the endoscope storage guidelines from The Joint Commission, SGNA and many others. Due to the built-in air filters, it only takes 10 minutes to dry the endoscope channels compared to many other cabinets that take 45 minutes or more to accomplish the same task. Check out our earlier article where we discussed How a New Method Is Reducing Endoscope Channel Drying Times Down to Only 10 Minutes.

In addition to drying endoscope channels, Mobile Aspects’ iRIScope system is also a flexible endoscope tracking system that uses barcode and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) to track the entire lifecycle of your endoscopes. The iRIScope system provides the benefits of electronic documentation, decreased risk of cross-contamination, and increased efficiency by tracking endoscope usage automatically and with high reliability. Additionally, Mobile Aspects iRIScope locking cabinets meet endoscope storage guidelines via the use of HEPA filters, as well as positive pressure and optional channel drying. Built in alerts and artificial intelligence will let your staff know when endoscopes have reached their shelf life limit, when they have gone missing for a set time period, and can even predict when a dirty scope has been entered into a clean storage cabinet.

Book a demo of iRIScope’s channel drying cabinets today.

How a New Method is Reducing Endoscope Channel Drying Times Down to Only 10 Minutes

June 18, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety

Nearly all infection control and endoscopy societies agree that channel drying is an essential step when reprocessing endoscopes. The reprocessing of flexible endoscopes after use is a complex, multi-step process. Residual moisture within endoscope channels may promote retention and proliferation of waterborne pathogens, and inadequately dried endoscopes have been associated with growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium species within endoscopes. Channel drying helps preserve the disinfected condition of the endoscope following the automated endoscope reprocessor’s cycle by preventing the growth of bacteria.

Recent research links incomplete endoscope drying to multiple outbreaks of waterborne organisms. This research signifies that the methods of drying flexible endoscopes need to change and a recent multisociety guideline includes new drying recommendations. Prior to this newfound information, most of the available cabinet drying methods involved 70% to 90% ethyl or isopropyl alcohol being injected into the endoscope channels to dry the channels. Alcohol was recommended because it purged and promoted the evaporation of residual water within endoscope channels, thereby decreasing the chances for bioburden buildup. However, inadequate data exists regarding possible benefits of alcohol flushes for channel drying. Based on new research, the updated guideline recommends drying the endoscope channels and areas not dried with a cloth with forced, pressure-regulated filtered air with a sufficiently prolonged flow of medical air through all accessible channels. For best results, it is ideal for this step to occur simultaneously for all channels and for a duration of at least 10 minutes.

Many hospitals are now evaluating drying cabinets with channel drying functionality built-in to reduce the infection risk from their scopes. Not all channel drying cabinets are designed the same way. Standard cabinets lack some of the critical functions automated cabinets offer, such as a constant flow of compressed, instrument-grade filtered air through internal channels and over external surfaces. Many other channel drying cabinets do not offer protection of scopes from outside elements or personnel due to their lack of security features. A new channel-drying endoscope storage cabinet using RFID technology called iRIScope from Mobile Aspects was introduced in the last several years to provide a simple way to dry the outside surfaces and channels of endoscopes while offering the advanced features of an automated endoscope tracking system. iRIScope cabinets are the world’s only endoscope cabinets with RFID technology, air drying and channel drying built in. RFID technology reduces unnecessary human touches by up to 75%, keeping scopes cleaner and safer. The cabinets also allow scopes to hang vertically with forced air running through the channels, drying endoscope channels in only 10 minutes, which complies with the multisociety guideline. This is lower than many current options available in the market which take as long as 45 minutes to perform the same task. This reduces the turnaround time for scope reprocessing, which can increase case volume and result in a big return on investment to the hospital.

Endoscope Channel Drying Is Essential for patient safety. Here’s why.

June 9, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Hospital Management Infection Control Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety

With frequent outbreaks of superbugs being linked to poorly disinfected endoscopes over the last decade, ensuring the cleanliness of endoscopes has been top of mind for many hospitals. While many hospitals have been cited for poor disinfection practices with their endoscopes, there has also been a rise in attention around the effective drying of endoscopes after reprocessing. We’ve noted that some of the most common problems identified during endoscope drying and storage include a lack of channel drying and not storing endoscopes in a vertical hanging position. Inadequate drying of endoscope channels can cause the replication and survival of remaining pathogens during endoscope storage. The presence of potentially contaminated biologics in endoscope channels may promote bacterial proliferation and biofilm formation and lead to severe superbug outbreaks. The combination of inadequate drying and storage procedures with sub-standard cleaning and disinfection is detrimental to endoscope contamination and post-endoscopic infection.

Several guiding bodies, from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to the Society for Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) have put out guidance stating that endoscopes must be properly dried following high-level disinfection (HLD) before contact with the next patient. While the concept is simple and widely understood in theory, it is not always adhered to in practice. One of the major reasons is that many busy hospitals and Endoscopy centers do not allow enough time from when scopes are unloaded from Automated Endoscope Reprocessors (AERs) to their use in a procedure. In situations like these, not allowing a scope to properly dry internally and externally increases the potential for disease transmission. Additionally, not allowing scopes to hang vertically to allow any moisture to drain properly post-HLD can allow moisture to build up inside the scope.

There are systems on the market that can help staff adhere to basic drying procedures such as blowing filtered air through channels and having scopes hang vertically in storage. One such system is iRIScope, a channel-drying endoscope storage cabinet using RFID technology from Mobile Aspects, which was introduced in the last several years to guide healthcare providers through the proper, society-recommended HLD protocols every single time a scope is disinfected. iRIScope cabinets are the world’s only endoscope cabinets with RFID technology, air drying and channel drying built in. RFID capabilities reduce unnecessary human touches by up to 75%, keeping scopes cleaner and safer. The system also includes smart storage cabinets that allow scopes to hang vertically with forced air running through the channels, drying endoscope channels in only 10 minutes.

With iRIScope software for endoscope tracking, sterile technicians will be guided through the entire HLD process to make sure that any potentially harmful diseases are minimized via proper HLD techniques. Built-in technology will even alert your staff if improperly reprocessed scopes are hung in storage, or if it is time to re-disinfect a scope based on local protocols. With a second pair of eyes always on your scopes, you can ensure that patients are kept safe while simultaneously following society and Joint Commission guidelines.

How Hospitals Can Help Offset the Rising Costs of Heart Valve Replacement Surgery

May 20, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

Due to an aging population, the number of patients with heart valve disease requiring valve replacement is expected to rise, reaching more than 800 000 annual procedures worldwide by 2050. The total cost of these surgeries is expected to grow by 10% through 2025, reaching over $10 billion. The cost of an average heart valve to hospitals is between $4,000 and $40,000, making up a large chunk of the revenue to the hospital of $80,000 to $200,000 per procedure.

In order to protect their margins on these procedures, hospitals must be vigilant in both managing and charging for their heart valve and TAVR/TAVI devices for each procedure. We often see that hospitals manage high-cost implants, such as valves, the same way as the rest of the general inventory. Most hospitals use traditional methods that rely on manual input and leave significant room for human error. A single expired valve or a missed charge on a valve costs a hospital thousands of dollars per incident, and the traditional methods of inventory management allow these events to happen more often than we’d like to believe. While systems fraught with human error may be manageable for low-cost supplies, they will lead to extremely negative financial outcomes when expensive devices like heart valves are managed the same way.

Solutions such as iRISupply supply and implant tracking software from Mobile Aspects aim to minimize human error in the inventory management and charge capture space by moving to automated technology. Software solutions like this use RFID technology to automatically assign each implant to the proper patient in the electronic medical record and generate an order to replace the implant. Additionally, reports can be automatically generated and sent electronically to notify the department’s inventory manager well in advance that an item is due to expire and can also provide real-time alerts if an expired item is taken for use in a procedure. In fact, one major academic medical center that uses iRISupply has gone over 3 years without a single heart valve expiring on its shelves.

If your hospital is still relying on manual systems or even barcode-based systems to manage expensive inventory like heart valves, it’s time to switch to a better inventory management system like iRISupply. With savings from reduced expirations and increased charge capture, the system will quickly pay for itself.

The Growing Cost of Medical Implants and How Proper Inventory Management Can Help

April 30, 2021Subhendu Pattnaik Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

Costs of medical implants are growing rapidly and according to one recent estimate, the medical implants market reached $89.2 billion in 2020 and is growing at 6.5% annually. As implants are a required, rapidly growing expense for the healthcare industry, hospitals should manage their implant inventory consciously.

Surgery is an expensive and complicated endeavor, and if a surgery requires an implant like an artificial hip or a mesh graft, costs begin to rise quickly. The price of implants varies widely, but the fact that they must be sterile, made to perform for a lifetime, and require extensive R&D usually comes with a hefty price tag. While some procedures are less expensive than others, they will still range from a few thousand dollars all the way into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Current struggles by hospitals to control their spend on implants is only making the costs of surgery more expensive. There are many instances where implant inventory is poorly tracked, and the industry suffers high rates of product loss, expiration, and damage. This waste costs everyone in the supply chain – manufacturers, hospitals, patients, payers – billions of dollars per year in aggregate. Effective supply management can drastically reduce the cost of waste and reduce the need for high-cost, last-minute transportation.

Therefore, to conserve resources and reduce waste, inventory managers now more than ever need to focus on reducing spend on overstocked or unused implants and supplies. Data is the key to this analysis because without reliable, clean data it will be hard to convince physicians and nurses of the need to reduce PAR levels. If your procedural areas lack an easy-to-use data analytics tool, consider an implant and supply tracking system like iRISupply that combines inventory management software with powerful analytics. iRISupply will not only provide you with the usage data and reports you need to manage your inventory but will take it one step further and provide actionable recommendations about which products are overstocked, understocked or that can be eliminated altogether. Mobile Aspects experts will also sit down with you quarterly as part of a best-in-class customer success program to discuss strategies to perfect your inventory mix and review the data behind those suggestions. These recommendations can then be taken to physicians for review, a discussion that will lead to substantial savings for your department.

The healthcare market is moving quickly moving towards price transparency. This will require that healthcare professionals have access to cost-related information, even that which was previously undisclosed. The benefit of this, beyond giving individual consumers more responsibility for choosing cost-effective treatment, is that surgeons will be able to combat rising healthcare costs directly with wise decisions around which implants and supplies they use. With systems like iRISupply we are one step closer to providing surgeons and physicians the visibility into the price of implants that will empower strategic, data-driven change within healthcare.

Nurses Face Severe Challenges With Supply Chain Issues

April 21, 2021Sri Mandava Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

A new survey conducted by Sage Growth Partners revealed that a vast majority of nurses feel overwhelmed with supply management tasks and are looking for better software tools to help alleviate the burden. The survey reached out to over 100 nurses – 50 nurse leaders and 50 front-line nurses – and asked them a series of question to find out how supply chain issues are affecting their performance and the quality of their department.

The survey asked respondents to give insights into several challenges they face with supply chain issues, and what effects these issues are having, from morale to patient safety to profitability. As this article by Carol Davis at HealthLeaders explains:

“Of 100 nurses surveyed—50 nurse leaders and 50 frontline nurses—in February, 86% said they leave procedures to hunt for supplies at least occasionally, according to the report.

Some 25% said they don’t always check product expiration or recall information, which increases risk of patient safety issues; 48% attributed this to lack of time.

Frontline nurses were more likely than nurse leaders to report frequent supply shortages, with nearly 10% more of them saying they occur often or occasionally, according to survey results.

The report also revealed a disconnect between nurse leaders and frontline nurses regarding how often nurses check product expiration and recall information prior to opening an item. While 84% of nurse leaders said their teams always check this information, only 66% of frontline nurses said they always check.

Other findings from the survey include:

Nurses encounter significant supply chain documentation problems

80% of nurses said they want more supply chain automation tools

95% said inaccurate physician preference cards decrease their efficiency

65% said their current supply documentation system is too time consuming

Supply chain problems take a significant toll on nurse stress and burnout

86% said their supply chain documentation system causes them stress

33% said hospital leadership is not working hard to reduce OR nurse stress

18% said they have considered leaving their current role due to supply chain problems

Supply chain problems result in excess waste and lower margins

76% of nurses said supply shortages are common, and 23% said that the greatest impact of this is reduced revenue
33% lack access to waste-reduction tools such as barcode scanning
12% said their OR wastes supplies in more than 25% of cases”

Read the article at: New Survey Reveals How Hospital Supply Chains Affect Nurses, Patient Safety, and Margins

As the article states, nurses are typically facing major issues with their hospital’s supply chain, leading to negative effects on job satisfaction, patient safety and profitability. One way healthcare providers can improve their nurses’ experience with the supply chain is to give them access to some of the more cutting-edge systems that are taking on inventory management challenges in hospitals. For example, RFID-based systems such as iRISupply supply and implant tracking software, can provide high quality data by integrating RFID data capture technology into the supply chain. This reduces the manual effort required to perform supply chain-related tasks, such as documenting usage, checking for expirations and re-ordering inventory. This also drastically cuts down on stock-outs and increases transparency of product location, reducing many headaches for nurses. With nurses playing such a vital role in today’s healthcare delivery model, it’s extremely important for hospital executives to provide them with the right tools to succeed in their jobs.

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