The Healthcare Hub

A senior nursing director speaks on Syft’s “Smart” Kanban system

In a recent interview with a senior nursing director at a 10-hospital health system, I had the opportunity to hear first-hand how their clinicians are using and benefitting from the Syft Synergy 2-bin Kanban inventory management system. The Syft Kanban solution has been adopted by 8 of the 10 hospitals and medical centers that make up this East Coast-based network. Here’s what the Senior Nursing Director who leads the Critical Care/Emergency Department/Trauma Services at one of the locations shared about Syft’s “really smart Kanban design” and how it has driven user adoption at the point of use.

At GHX, we believe the democratization of data and knowledge is fundamental to value-based healthcare delivery, helping to reduce variability, improve clinical and financial outcomes and break down the walls of healthcare inequity. To accelerate value-based healthcare adoption among U.S. health systems and hospitals, the industry needs more efficient and effective ways to share impactful information on a broader scale. 

To comply with state and federal laws such as OSHA and HIPAA, most health organizations have adopted procedures to vet and validate the legitimacy of any vendors with whom they are doing business. They may also require background checks and health records of the vendor's employees. This is especially relevant for any representatives who may need to enter a facility or have access to electronically protected health information (ePHI) information.

In honor of the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management’s (AHRMM) annual National Health Care Supply Chain Week (October 3-9, 2021), we are proud to recognize several healthcare supply chain professionals who exemplify an exceptional commitment to collaboration, improving patient care and innovation. 

Until recently, almost anyone could enter a hospital or physician’s office with relative ease. Facilities were designed to allow access. Today, while many professional office buildings require check-in and access badges, countless healthcare facilities have not adopted safety protocols to this degree. But that’s changing and for good reason.

Supplies follow a long pathway through the hospital, from the warehouse to the clinical care team. As a critical end user, nurses have unique visibility into supply chain inefficiencies and problems. This is one of many reasons it’s so critical for hospital leaders to incorporate nurses’ input before embarking on a supply chain improvement initiative. Nurses can reveal key supply chain vulnerabilities and weaknesses that other hospital staff members don’t see.

When Value Analysis Director Kristin Sinke joined Michigan-based Spectrum Health in 2017, the value analysis team for the 14-hospital system consisted of herself and one other person. Within two years, she had helped create a completely centralized program comprising 14 full-time employees (FTEs), and in March 2021, the team launched its first strategic outcomes-based partnership with Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology.

As the conduit between patients and care, nurses have many critical responsibilities. One of the many tasks in a nurse’s day is properly documenting supplies, however, for many nurses, this is laborious and time consuming. In fact, a recent survey of 100 hospital nurses and frontline leaders found that more than 85% have difficulty documenting supplies used during procedures.

Inventory services are about much more than just accurate hospital inventory counts.

A healthy supply chain starts with an accurate inventory. That's why so many hospitals rely on GHX Inventory Services to provide point-in-time inventory for year-end, mid-year, and baseline reporting. In the last decade alone, this team has conducted nearly 8,000 inventory counts, totaling almost $13 billion in inventory.