Investing in a surgical instrument tracking software requires a lot of research and vetting. Once you do find the perfect fit and make the investment, it’s easy to get caught back up in your routine and workflow once you’re onboarded, forgetting about all the unique features that sold you on the software in the first place.
Whether you made a recent investment or have been working with your surgical instrument tracking software for years, here are a few signs that you might not be taking full advantage of it.
1. You don’t know where all of your assets are at any given time
Touted as one of the main reasons for investing in surgical instrument tracking technology, if you find yourself still unsure of the location of your assets, chances are you’re not using the technology to its fullest capability. See if you can track down to the instrument level instead of just tray level or ask for a training refresher from your technology provider if you’re already tracking to the instrument-level and struggling with finding asset locations and location history.
2. You worry about meeting the demand from the OR
Being able to pivot and adjust quickly to the changing OR schedule is much easier with great surgical instrument tracking software. With our utilization and reporting functionality, you have visibility into your utilization rate which is a great way to make purchasing decisions based on quantitative fact and not perception. If you’re regularly stressed about meeting the demand, see if you can integrate your software with the OR scheduler to see changes in real-time. If you already have the two integrated, make sure you’re using the information available to you when you plan each shift’s priorities.
3. You spend a lot of time correcting mistakes that team members make
If you find that technicians around you are making mistakes, regardless of which step they’re at in the reprocessing cycle, make sure that everyone knows how to use each assistance feature of your tracking software. With helpful tips, alerts, error messages, and more, your surgical instrument tracking software can minimize the amount of mistakes that technicians make.
4. You don’t always get assets to the OR on time
Do you regularly get feedback from the OR that they don’t have the right assets or that assets aren’t being delivered on time? Your tracking technology can help. Make sure that technicians are using and following the assembly, sterilization, and location tracking assistance (to name a few) your technology provides and that you’re using the OR scheduler interface to plan for which assets get reprocessed first.
5. You’re never really sure if the loaner sets you ordered will arrive on time or contain the correct assets
If your OR and surgeons regularly rely on loaner sets to stay on track and meet OR demand, you need to know that the sets you ordered will be exactly what arrives—and that they arrive on time! Check to see if your software integrates with a loaner management solution so you can get complete visibility for all assets throughout the entire perioperative loop.
6. You’re not confident in your ability to show the ROI of your surgical instrument tracking technology to your leadership.
This is key. Your leadership already made the investment in the technology, now it’s up to you to show that the investment is paying off. Being able to do so doesn’t just help prove your case for why you needed it in the first place, but it helps to build trust and confidence so that when you need an upgrade or a new tool to help another aspect of your department, your leadership will be open to the idea. Incorporating utilization rates for purchasing, maintenance cost visibility, and regulatory compliance readiness into your reports are great ways too to show ROI while simultaneously showing increased department efficiency, elevated patient safety, and more—all items that directly impact your facility’s bottom line.
Here at Censis, we work to provide comprehensive training during our onboarding process that doesn’t leave any room for teams to underutilize our solutions. If you’re a current Censis client who’s unsure whether or not your team is using our solutions to their fullest capabilities, reach out to our team—we’d be more than happy to review your current workflow and see if there are any opportunities for improvement. If you’re not a Censis client but are looking for the perfect surgical instrument tracking technology partner, we invite you to explore ours; learn more about CensiTrac and its capabilities!
