cards is often an exercise in futility, and that inaccurate and out-of-
date information can grind the surgical schedule to a halt and put
patients in harm's way. Why go through all that trouble and subject
yourself to all that worry when a digital preference card system can
do all the heavy lifting? Our health system recently implemented the
technology, which has improved the way we manage supplies and the
care we provide.
When we enter a surgery into the system, it automatically gener-
ates a preference card based on the scheduled procedure and the
surgeon who'll perform it. The card includes a pick list of the sup-
plies, equipment and instruments needed for the case. Staff in the
supply storage area print out the preference card the day before the
scheduled surgery. They pick needed supplies, scan bar codes on
each supply and place the items on case carts, which are wheeled to
the OR on the day of surgery. As we pick and scan supplies, the sys-
tem automatically deducts them from the general inventory count.
We place a hard copy of the preference cards on the case cart to
inform the OR staff about which supplies they should open and which
should remain unopened until needed. We return unopened supplies
on the case carts to the supply storage area and scan them back into
inventory.
It's a simple and straightforward way to ensure supplies are on hand
where and when they're needed. Here are several other benefits we've
realized since going with paperless procedure cards:
• Easy to update. Our health system hosts 30,000 procedures a year
performed by hundreds of surgeons at 5 facilities, so we need to make
changes to preferences cards on a daily basis. It's a huge undertaking,
one we hired a dedicated staff member to handle. Christine
Nordstrom, RN, is responsible for managing change requests and
ensuring preference cards are current and consistent throughout the
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