Several months ago, I told you about how we were trying to solve the thorny problem of having the right pumps in the right place throughout the hospital. As I have talked with people in other hospitals, I find that this is a pretty pervasive problem around the country.After a lot of work and research, the pumps committee has developed several solutions for ensuring nurses have a readily available supply of medication delivery pumps. A new flow has been pinpointed and storage space is being identified to house pumps on every floor and unit.
Coincidentally, new pumps are also being purchased for the organization. The goal is to have the new process and equipment in place by early 2009.
We have been documenting this process on video. Here's the latest update.
I've wondered if painting the poles a color for each department would make it easy to identify an errant pump.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your suggestion. We will actually be separating pumps and poles, and poles will remain fixed at the bedside, 1 per bed. Just the pumps will flow as described in the video. Pumps will be tagged with rfid tracking devices that will allow us to find any errant pumps - though the goal of this redesign will be that that rarely happens. In re-engineering speak, rfid tags for finding lost pumps is technically a "work around".
Marsha Maurer, Vice President for Patient Care and Chief Nurse