SURGICAL/CRITICAL CARE
that many healthcare organizations had to display via their administrators and clini- cians to navigate through crisis, disruption and the unexpected.
“When many hospitals were approaching capacity during the pan- demic, they faced the unique challenge of creat- ing temporary ICU spaces within their existing foot- prints,” Wittwer indicated. “Through creative problem solving, clinicians estab-
Robert Wittwer
lished new ICUs and isolation areas by rei- magining existing spaces like outpatient surgery areas, as well as borrowing and repurposing medical equipment from other departments.”
Repurposing operational areas, as well as integrating software, emerged as much of a strategy as repurposing products through proper reprocessing protocols.
“This reliance on existing systems was a necessary step to care for patients during a critical period, but it also reinforced the importance of vendor-neutral clinical soft- ware,” Wittwer continued. “For example, if a hospital’s Med/Surg area needed to shift its purpose to accommodate COVID patients, clinicians were likely using an assortment of equipment from multiple ven- dors. Ascom’s Digistat and Unite software solutions were the glue that held together many of these temporary ICUs, enabling clinicians to view patient data on a single interface, even when pulling data from monitors, beds or IV pumps made by other companies.”
Wittwer foresees this strategy as becoming a standard tactic going forward. “Hospital leaders made the most of exist- ing resources over the past few years, and I believe that adaptable mentality will con- tinue,” he said. “We are embracing this agile approach at scom and continuing to find new ways to manage alarm flow in non- traditional physical spaces.” Dräger saw increased demand for mechan- ical ventilators, physiologic monitors and anesthesia machines as well as con- sumables and operating supplies, at many facili- ties, according to Edwin Coombs, RRT-NPS, ACCS, FAARC, Senior Director
Edwin Coombs
of Marketing, Portfolio Solutions Training, Clinical Affairs, & Intensive Care. “Due to the enormous needs, [in] working together with customers, orders were priori- tized, and delivered in partial shipments to accommodate as many customers as practi- cal,” Coombs said. “The rates of infection and hospitalizations were monitored online
to stay abreast of infection trends as well to best serve the population at large around the country.”
Coombs recalls that logistics pressure within critical care areas wasn’t limited to distribution and supply, but also experi- enced by maintenance and repair. “Our technical repair teams worked around the clock and weekends to fulfill service requests, which not only included new device installation but also legacy devices that were in long-term storage, back to a state of operational readiness for patient use,” he said. “Suppliers and providers working in close communica- tion and collaboration with logistics and safety precautions was absolutely essential for success.”
Disaster response eye-opening The pandemic seemed to open a Pandora’s box full of crisis response plans that didn’t go far enough or weren’t there at all, observ- ers contend. “The pandemic experience has brought to light many challenges that we will continue to face,” Dräger’s Coombs lamented. “While the national strategic stockpile of standard ventilators was released and saved lives, due to the complex nature of the COVID-19 disease many critically ill patients required a higher acuity device. Additionally, many hospitals indicated that they learned the value of having a minimal supply of con- sumable supplies on hand, including PPE as a ‘safety stock’ where the approach before the pandemic was often a ‘just-in-time’ stock approach.”
In fact, Wells still sees the main supply challenges faced by Critical Care to be “obtaining what they need to offer safe and effective patient care” and “having the equipment and supplies that they need when they need them,” she added. “Throughout the pandemic, nurses and other healthcare workers have not had the correct supplies that they need,” Wells said. “Medications, PPE, cleaning supplies, medical equipment, oxygen and more have not been available when they need it within their facility. This has been due to issues as varied as limited vendor contracts, barriers to labor, increased price of fuel and issues with production. If healthcare workers do not have the correct supplies they need when they need it, and if a workaround can- not be found, this can mean the difference in life or death for our patients.” Despite the overall global economic reasoning behind supply chain challenges, pandemic-related or not, Ascom’s Wittwer argues that the critical care areas likely will suffer the most because of what they do and the technology on which they rely.
“Supply chain issues are negatively impacting critical care environments more than any other area of the hospital in part because ICUs are the most dependent on technology,” he noted. “Clinicians need a complex set of tools to take care of patients in the ICU – from IV pumps and complex patient monitors to rotating smart beds. The core components of these electronic systems are impacted by global supply chain disrup- tions, so hospitals are encountering longer lead-times for this technology.” Still, Diamond’s Nageotte appreciates the fleibility and nimbleness critical care nurses must practice on a daily basis and praises the suppliers that do the same. “In critical care settings, being able to respond, adapt and pivot quickly under ever-changing circumstances and demands is crucial,” she said. “When you have good systems, process and equipment in place, it creates an environment that supports this needed flexibility. At Diamond Storage Solutions, we incorporate Lean principles into everything we do – from the manage- ment of our business to the product portfolio we offer and the way we innovate new solutions. ean creates the fleibility needed to respond and react quickly to changing requirements and pressures. By applying Lean principles to storage areas, you can create a more efficient space, reducing the amount of time searching for supplies and limiting waste from stockouts or overstock.”
Smoothing rough edges While the pandemic may have exposed sys- temic process shortcomings, it also ignited motivation for and pursuit of strategic and tactical solutions – or at the very least, what works. It’s something about which Wells as a veteran nurse understands. “Bedside staff have faced supply chain shortages for decades and have often found workarounds, or in nursing, what we call ‘nurse hacks,’” she said. “This is an instance where you use something not for its intended use but what works in a pinch. Nurses and other healthcare workers are incredibly innovative, especially when under pressure. This has kept healthcare working throughout times like the COVID- 19 pandemic.”
Wells mulled how “nurse hacks” or work- arounds might be applied globally. “In a more global sense, interventions
like more fluid vendor contract language, budgets that accommodate for fluctuations in costs of supplies, having alternative items already pre-selected in the case that a choice item is not available, and working to have buffers on key supplies may be ideas to help mitigate supply chain shortages in the future,” she suggested. “Healthcare will
hpnonline.com • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • May 2022 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46
