Operation Room and Sterile Processing Department. Best Practices Managing Communication.
One of the most critical key elements for success in healthcare is communication and information management.
In our particular case, the OR needs to continually communicate with SPD (Sterile Processing Department) to know the status of a tray or a set of instruments.
The communication is not always optimal; adding to the tremendous amount of pressure these departments handle on a daily basis.
We optimized this communication within the NuTrace "lean" process by treating the OR as internal customers and the SPD as the production line. This is no different than when you buy an item online. You expect the best possible customer service, the most accurate package tracking and the best post-sales service. In the event you need to return your item, the merchant will expect to have it back in a timely manner and in the same condition as when purchased.
Patient safety is one of our main goals and because of this, we provide an incredible amount of tools to track and link each instrument to every patient visiting the OR. This is not only to keep information available when needed, but also to protect future patients by blocking surgical instruments that cannot come back to the supply chain for any given reason (infection control, broken instrument, etc..).
