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ence cards (see "Accurate Preference Cards Pay Big Dividends" on
page 24). Here's some helpful advice for when you finally start pulling
cards for review.
Identify the issues
Survey your staff before beginning the process. Do they find
preference cards helpful? Do they use certain sections of the cards
more than others? We learned that our staff didn't trust the outdated
cards and instead relied mostly on their memories of what surgeons
always ask for when pulling supplies for cases. We learned from them
what needed to be noted and what could be eliminated. Standardizing
the language used on the cards and streamlining the supplies noted
made the cards easier to read and understand, which ultimately made
them more useful. Understanding the issues staff face will help you
focus on an improvement process that works.
Start big
First address the cards for the highest-volume procedures you
host, because reviewing supplies used during those cases will have
the biggest initial impact on your bottom line.
Assign specialty leaders to review the cards for the 10 highest-vol-
ume procedures in their service lines. Create a standard agenda for
the leaders to meet with individual surgeons, who might not even be
aware of what is noted on their cards. Have them ask the physicians if
the cards are still accurate and if they're still using all the supplies
noted. During this process, one team leader at our hospital found out
that we hadn't updated suture requests in quite some time. In fact, we
had specialty suture on our shelves requested by surgeons who were
no longer practicing at our facility.
Give the specialty leaders about 3 months to review the preference
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