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IDEAS THAT WORK
SUPPLY MANAGEMENT
Don't Let Another Dated Supply Expire
O
ne afternoon
a month, have
your nursing
staff do what we call
"expirations." The
charge nurse assigns
individuals to a room
or area to check anything with an expiration date to ensure it's
not out of date. These
items include (but
aren't limited to) fire
USE-BY DATE Enlist your nursing staff to check for
expired items once a month.
extinguishers, medication vials, prefilled saline syringes, IV catheters,
plastic bottles of eyewash and Ambu bags. (I once learned the hard
way that, yes, Ambu bags have expiration dates, too.) It may sound a
bit tedious, but with everyone pitching in — "many hands make light
work" — it takes only about an hour. We then are assured that nothing is expired, and if it is, the item is removed and we know what we
need to re-order.
David Nero, RN
East Greenwich Endoscopy Center
1 2
East Greenwich, R.I.
dnero@symbion.com
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | O C T O B E R 2012
