If your department has recently installed a new inventory management system costing your hospital a few million pounds, it may be best to look away now. RFID has arrived!! Whilst still in its early stages here in the UK, it is now the system of choice for forward-thinking hospitals in the USA, moving beyond the traditional push button cabinets and bar-coding. But what is it, how does it work, and more importantly how can it be successfully implemented into your department today?

It is obvious to see that hospitals are struggling to reign in expenses. Companies sprout up with new ways to improve patient care, reduce infection rates, and/or increase revenue. Pop the word “medical” in front of it and quadruple the price. For this reason hospital management has become very wary about new products, and it is commonly known they now invest less in new technologies than other industries.

If you are a regular reader of our publication you would have noticed in our Site Visits we always ask the question on Inventory Management in their department. Almost always the answer comes back as pen and paper (manual method). So what is the advantage of automated inventory management systems?

The process has moved beyond just the ordering, receiving, and tracking of supplies. Today it can do so much more. At the click of a mouse you can instantly see your available inventory, including serial numbers, used by dates, and any recalled products.

So what are your choices today?

Manual:

This is the most common technique for NHS hospitals in the UK, and involves manually counting each individual product used and either using a spreadsheet or pen and paper to keep track. This is very time consuming and is subject to human error.
Bar-Coding:
This is the next step-up from the manual method and involves a bar code reader which captures the product code and stores the information in a program for further manipulation like is mentioned above. This is possibly the best technology available on the market today to manage stock automatically in the cath lab environment, and newer systems can be integrated easily with RFID.

Button Pushing:

This technology has been implemented into a few cath labs recently with mixed feedback. The idea is that each product on a shelf is assigned a particular button. If you remove the product you press the button corresponding to it. This technology has been around for a while and works well in theatre environments, but in stressful cath lab situations where you have to grab multiple products quickly, button pushing is often forgotten and mistakes are made.

RFID:

RFID utilizes an inexpensive tag that is placed on the product either by the manufacturer or when stock arrives in the department. The tag links to information including that box’s product description, expiration date, lot number, serial number, its price upon receipt, its status as consigned or owned, and so on. From here the boxes are placed into “Smart Cabinets” which automatically that the detect the products have been added and add them to the department inventory list. Remove an item and the Smart Cabinet detects this and automatically updates the system. Dan Sharbach, Regional Director of Invasive Cardiovascular Services at the Providence Health System in Portland, Oregon, USA recently reported for us on the use of RFID in their hospital stating, “By following current processes, nurses and techs are more likely to embrace this technology because, unlike many inventory systems, this approach is largely invisible to the front line clinical user.” Put simply, RFID technology closely matches the workflow for cath labs compared to other systems, virtually cancelling out human error.

Purchase Planning:

RFID is a relatively new technology here in the UK and as such is very expensive. For large departments with a high stock turn-over the cost-benefit can be justified. However we recommend you start with a system which can eventually be upgraded to this technology, reducing your overall expenses in the medium to long-term.

Investigation:

See what systems are on the market. See their installations, not just in theatres, but cath labs. Speak to managers who use the system across the entire supply chain and see where their strengths and weaknesses are.

Future Proof:

Automating inventory management is not cheap, but the last thing you want to do is buy a system that is obsolete in five years. Look at what upgrades are available. Can their cabinets be made to be RFID compliant easily? Does their software easily integrate with RFID technology?

Beware:

Some companies you talk to may down play RFID technology, but that is because they don’t have it. Sure, the tags aren’t on any of the boxes here in the UK and you have to do it manually, but as with the USA this is rapidly changing, and it won’t be long before every item you order has a little RFID tag attached to it.