Key Characteristics of a Fragile Healthcare Supply Chain: Learning from a Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the many challenges that provincial health systems have experienced while scaling health services to protect Canadians from viral transmission and support care for those who get infected. Supply chain capacity makes it possible for health systems to deliver care and implement public health initiatives safely. In this paper, we present emerging findings from a national research study that documents the key features of the fragility of the health supply chain evident across the seven Canadian provinces. Results suggest that the fragility of the health supply chain contributes to substantive challenges across health systems, thus limiting or precluding proactive and comprehensive responses to pandemic management. These findings inform strategies to strengthen supply chain capacity and performance in order to enable health systems to effectively respond to pandemic events.

Logistics of an advanced therapy medicinal product during COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: successful delivery of mesenchymal stromal cells in dry ice.

BACKGROUND: During the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Italian hospitals faced the most daunting challenges of their recent history, and only essential therapeutic interventions were feasible. From March to April 2020, the Laboratory of Advanced Cellular Therapies (Vicenza, Italy) received requests to treat a patient with severe COVID-19 and a patient with acute graft-versus-host disease with umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs). Access to clinics was restricted due to the risk of contagion. Transport of UC-MSCs in liquid nitrogen was unmanageable, leaving shipment in dry ice as the only option. METHODS: We assessed effects of the transition from liquid nitrogen to dry ice on cell viability; apoptosis; phenotype; proliferation; immunomodulation; and clonogenesis; and validated dry ice-based transport of UC-MSCs to clinics. RESULTS: Our results showed no differences in cell functionality related to the two storage conditions, and demonstrated the preservation of immunomodulatory and clonogenic potentials in dry ice. UC-MSCs were successfully delivered to points-of-care, enabling favourable clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This experience underscores the flexibility of a public cell factory in its adaptation of the logistics of an advanced therapy medicinal product during a public health crisis. Alternative supply chains should be evaluated for other cell products to guarantee delivery during catastrophes.

Improving hospital pharmacy inventory management using data segmentation.

PURPOSE: This case study describes the development and empirical validation of an easy-to-implement practical framework for improving hospital pharmacy inventory management. SUMMARY: Research suggests various inventory optimization models, which can lead to cost reductions while maintaining adequate service levels; however, they are facing limited adoption in healthcare settings. The main barriers appear to be the high effort and complexity of implementation, the dependence on data that are not available or might not be in the right form, and the one-size-fits-all approach often followed without addressing healthcare sector-specific particularities. A research framework was developed by adapting relevant inventory models to the healthcare context using the concept of data segmentation on the basis of a three-dimensional classification of hospital pharmacy inventory items based on their relative importance, clinical criticality, and consumption pattern. Suitable replenishment policies were assigned to high-impact classes, and an integrated performance-measurement component assesses the framework's effectiveness. The suggested approach was implemented and empirically tested at the pharmacy of a large public hospital using longitudinal data. The results demonstrate substantial improvements with respect to all of the selected key performance indicators and translate into inventory cost savings due to reduced stockholding costs and better synchronization of inventories to demand. CONCLUSION: Use of standard software functionalities combined with targeted data segmentation efforts significantly improves hospital pharmacy inventory cost performance.

Analysis of Factors Influencing Hospitals' Implementation of a Green E-Procurement System Using a Cloud Model.

Currently, the green procurement activities of private hospitals in Taiwan follow the self-built green electronic-procurement (e-procurement) system. This requires professional personnel to take the time to regularly update the green specification and software and hardware of the e-procurement system, and the information system maintenance cost is high. In the case of a green e-procurement system crash, the efficiency of green procurement activities for hospitals is affected. If the green e-procurement can be moved to a convenient and trusty cloud computing model, this will enhance the efficiency of procurement activities and reduce the information maintenance cost for private hospitals. However, implementing a cloud model is an issue of technology innovation application and the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework has been widely applied as the theoretical framework in technology innovation application. In addition, finding the weight of factors is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) issue. Therefore, the present study first collected factors influencing implementation of the cloud mode together with the TOE as the theoretical framework, by reviewing the literature. Therefore, an expert questionnaire was designed and distributed to top managers of 20 private hospitals in southern Taiwan. The fuzzy analysis hierarchical process (FAHP), which is a MCDM tool, finds the weights of the factors influencing private hospitals in southern Taiwan when they implement a cloud green e-procurement system. The research results can enable private hospitals to successfully implement a green e-procurement system through a cloud model by optimizing resource allocation according to the weight of each factor. In addition, the results of this research can help cloud service providers of green e-procurement understand users' needs and develop relevant cloud solutions and marketing strategies.

Optimizing Endoscope Reprocessing Resources Via Process Flow Queuing Analysis.

The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is merging its older endoscope processing facilities into a single new facility that will enable high-level disinfection of endoscopes for both the ORs and Endoscopy Suite, leveraging economies of scale for improved patient care and optimal use of resources. Finalized resource planning was necessary for the merging of facilities to optimize staffing and make final equipment selections to support the nearly 33,000 annual endoscopy cases. To accomplish this, we employed operations management methodologies, analyzing the physical process flow of scopes throughout the existing Endoscopy Suite and ORs and mapping the future state capacity of the new reprocessing facility. Further, our analysis required the incorporation of historical case and reprocessing volumes in a multi-server queuing model to identify any potential wait times as a result of the new reprocessing cycle. We also performed sensitivity analysis to understand the impact of future case volume growth. We found that our future-state reprocessing facility, given planned capital expenditures for automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs) and pre-processing sinks, could easily accommodate current scope volume well within the necessary pre-cleaning-to-sink reprocessing time limit recommended by manufacturers. Further, in its current planned state, our model suggested that the future endoscope reprocessing suite at MGH could support an increase in volume of at least 90% over the next several years. Our work suggests that with simple mathematical analysis of historic case data, significant changes to a complex perioperative environment can be made with ease while keeping patient safety as the top priority.

Case Study: Supply Chain Transformation in the Mercy Health System.

The Mercy case study documents evidence of a clinically integrated supply chain strategy implemented in the peri-operative programs in three of the 46 hospitals in the Mercy system. Mercy became the first US health system to achieve "the perfect order," a supply chain industry standard with end-to-end integration of supply chain best practice in the Mercy system. To date, the Mercy strategy has demonstrated revenue growth of $8 billion, a 70% reduction in Never Events, a 33.3% reduction in supplies cost/case and a 29.5% reduction in labour costs/case in the perioperative programs in three hospitals.

Análise das notificações em tecnovigilância em instituições hospitalares: diagnóstico de situação / Analysis of notifications in technovigilance in hospital institutions: situation diagnosis

Na área da saúde, principalmente a partir da década de 1970, verifica-se um desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico acelerado, com um aumento do consumo de diferentes tecnologias em todos os níveis de atendimento e consequente aumento dos custos. Muitas inquietações passaram a fazer parte do cotidiano das organizações de saúde diante dessa nova realidade, uma vez que o impasse de incorporar novas tecnologias à prática clínica conflita com a administração de recursos necessários. Em razão da grande diversidade tecnológica e de itens necessários para uma instituição de saúde de grande porte, evidências indicam a premência de mudanças importantes para um efetivo gerenciamento, com controles mais efetivos, exigindo dos gestores um desempenho pautado em eficiência e eficácia. Na atualidade, tem se constituído um desafio para as instituições implementar ações de monitoramento capazes de identificar precocemente possíveis problemas, pois, independentemente do tipo de produto médico-hospitalar utilizado, não há como garantir a ausência de riscos em sua utilização. Diante desta problemática, é de extrema relevância a implantação e o uso de sistemas de registros sistemáticos de avaliações de materiais, enquanto subsídio para uma gestão eficiente no que concerne à maximização de recursos econômicos. Nessa perspectiva, aliada ao interesse em oferecer ao paciente uma assistência isenta de danos e segura na atuação dos profissionais de enfermagem e da equipe multiprofissional é que se justifica a presente pesquisa, que teve como objetivo analisar as não conformidades relativas aos materiais médico-hospitalares notificados ao Gerenciamento de Risco das instituições hospitalares de Ribeirão Preto. Esse foi um estudo descritivo, retrospectivo, documental, com abordagem quantitativa, realizado na cidade de Ribeirão Preto nos serviços de saúde constantes do Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (CNES) categorizados como hospitais públicos, privados ou filantrópicos, gerais ou especializados, nos anos de 2014, 2015 e 2016 e que tivessem serviço de gerenciamento de risco. Os dados foram obtidos do Serviço de Gerenciamento de Risco das instituições participantes. Foi construído um instrumento contendo as seguintes variáveis: produto (nome técnico); grupo de material (médico-hospitalar; higiene pessoal; esterilização); queixa técnica; categoria do problema (embalagem, estrutura e aspecto alterado); setor (unidade que registrou o problema). Foi utilizada estatística descritiva para análise dos dados, utilizando o software SPSS versão 24. Das oito Instituições de Saúde elegíveis para o estudo, cinco (62,5%) autorizaram a realização da pesquisa. A instituição 1 apresentou o maior número de notificações 950 (94%), representando quase a totalidade. Em relação ao ano, foram identificadas 357 (35%) em 2014, 283 (28%) em 2015 e 369 (37%) em 2016. Quanto ao grupo de materiais notificados, identificamos um predomínio dos materiais médico-hospitalares, em todos os anos da pesquisa, com um total de 991 (98,2%) notificações. Em relação ao tipo de material, houve variação dos principais itens durante os anos de estudo, porém, no total geral, identificamos que a seringa foi o principal tipo de material, com 172 (17,1%) notificações. O segundo material foram as luvas de procedimento, com um total de 79 (7,83%) eventos, seguidas dos equipos macrogotas, com 70 (6,94) notificações. Quanto à categorização das queixas que envolviam esses materiais em todos os anos, a principal queixa foi referente à rachadura ou quebra do produto ou de parte dele, com um total de 591 (58,6%) eventos. Os resultados desse estudo demonstraram a importância do monitoramento dos produtos utilizados na assistência à saúde na etapa de pós-comercialização, por meio das queixas técnicas. Identificamos um total de 1.009 notificações, sendo a maioria referente a produtos médico-hospitalares, como seringas e equipos, sendo a principal queixa referente a rachadura ou quebra do produto ou de parte dele. Ressalta-se que estes materiais têm contato direto com o paciente, o que pode ocasionar riscos à sua segurança

In the health area, especially since the 1970s, there has been an accelerated scientific and technological development, with an increase in the consumption of different technologies at all levels of care and consequent increase in costs. Many concerns started to be part of the daily life of health organizations in front of this new reality, since the impasse of incorporating new technologies into clinical practice conflicts with the administration of necessary resources. Due to the great technological diversity and the necessary items for a large health institution, evidences indicate the urgency of important changes for an effective management, with more effective controls, requiring from managers a perform based on efficiency and effectiveness. At present, it has become a challenge for institutions to implement monitoring actions capable of identifying possible problems early, since, regardless of the type of medical-hospital product used, there is no way to guarantee the absence of risks in their use. Faced with this problem, it is extremely important to implement and use systems of systematic records of material evaluations, as a subsidy for an efficient management in what concerns the maximization of economic resources. In this perspective, allied to the interest in offering the patient a harmless and safe assistance in the work of the nursing professionals and the multiprofessional team is that this research is justified, whose objective was to analyze the nonconformities related to the notified medical-hospital materials to Risk Management of the hospital institutions of Ribeirão Preto. This was a descriptive, retrospective, documental study, with a quantitative approach, carried out in the city of Ribeirão Preto in the health services included in the National Register of Health Establishments (CNES) categorized as public, private or philanthropic hospitals, general or specialized, in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 and that had a risk management service. Data were obtained from the Risk Management Service of the participating institutions. An instrument was constructed containing the following variables: product (technical name); group of material (medical-hospital, personal hygiene, sterilization); technical complaint; category of the problem (packaging, structure and altered appearance); sector (the unit that registered the problem). Descriptive statistic was used for data analysis, using SPSS software version 24. Of the eight Health Institutions eligible for the study, five (62.5%) authorized the research. Institution 1 had the highest number of notifications 950 (94%), representing almost all of them. In relation to the year, 357 (35%) were identified in 2014, 283 (28%) in 2015 and 369 (37%) in 2016. Regarding the group of materials reported, we identified a predominance of medical and hospital materials in all years of the survey, with a total of 991 (98.2%) notifications. Regarding the type of material, there were variations of the main items during the study years, however, in the overall total, we identified that the syringe was the main type of material, with 172 (17.1%) notifications. The second material was the procedure gloves, with a total of 79 (7.83%) events, followed by macrogotes, with 70 (6.94) notifications. Regarding the categorization of complaints involving these materials in all years, the main complaint was about the cracking or breaking of the product or part of it, with a total of 591 (58.6%) events. The results of this study demonstrated the importance of the monitoring of products used in health care in the post-marketing stage, through technical complaints. We identified a total of 1,009 notifications, the majority of which refer to medical and hospital products, such as syringes and equipment, the main complaint being the cracking or breaking of the product or part of it. It is emphasized that these materials have direct contact with the patient, which can cause risks to their safety

Implantação de comissão de pré-qualificação de materiais hospitalares no pregão eletrônico de hospital universitário: pré-requisito para controle de qualidade / Implementation of hospital materials prequalification commission on university hospital electronic trading: quality control prerequisite

O presente estudo tem por objetivo analisar as possibilidades da implantação de comissão de pré-qualificação de materiais hospitalares adquiridos por pregão eletrônico em hospital universitário. Trata-se de estudo observacional, descritivo, misto, com abordagem quanti-qualitativa, realizado no segundo semestre de 2015, cujos elementos de caráter quantitativo foram submetidos à análise documental, extraídos de 136 processos de compras, de materiais hospitalares realizadas no período de 2010 a 2015, devidamente organizados em planilha Excel e pelo software R. Posteriormente analisados com base na estatística descritiva e resultados apresentados em gráficos, tabelas e quadros. Os elementos qualitativos foram produzidos a partir de entrevistas realizadas com 11 médicos e 18 enfermeiros atuantes na gestão de diversos setores de internação hospitalar, no decorrer dos meses de julho a dezembro de 2015. As entrevistas foram norteadas por roteiro semiestruturado e analisadas a luz da análise de conteúdo temática. Da análise dos dados emergiram três categorias temáticas: Materiais com mais problemas: intercorrências por falta de critérios de qualidade; Credibilidade sobre solicitação de amostras para o pregão; e Conhecimento sobre o trabalho e propósitos da comissão de padronização de materiais hospitalares. Concluiu-se que as aquisições pelos pregões, adotando-se o critério menor preço, não asseguram padrões de qualidade dos materiais hospitalares, expondo pacientes e profissionais de saúde à riscos injustificáveis do ponto de vista de segurança dos pacientes e do trabalho. Razões suficientes para apontar a necessidade da implantação de comissão de pré-qualificação dos produtos para analisá-los antes dos procedimentos licitatórios. Ademais, o cenário atual de crise do financiamento público não oferece margens para desperdícios, considerando o inevitável descarte dos materiais adquiridos que não apresentem padrão de qualidade e confiabilidade para que seu uso não cause problemas adversos. Acredita-se que para solucionar os problemas ou minimizá-los, faz-se necessária a constituição da referida comissão, bem como implantar um sistema eletrônico para armazenar e compartilhar informações claras sobre a qualidade dos materiais já analisados a fim de possibilitar maior segurança aos profissionais que os utilizam e para os pacientes que são submetidos aos procedimentos terapêuticos nos hospitais de ensino

The present study aims to analyze the possibilities of the implementation of pre-qualification commission of hospital materials purchased by electronic trading in a university hospital. This is an observational, descriptive, mixed study, with a quantitative-qualitative approach, carried out in the second half of 2015, whose quantitative elements were submitted to a documentary analysis, extracted from 136 procurement processes, of hospital materials carried out in the period of 2010 To 2015, duly organized into Excel spreadsheet and software R. Subsequently analyzed based on descriptive statistics and results presented in graphs, tables and tables. The qualitative elements were produced from interviews with 11 physicians and 18 nurses working in the management of several hospital admission sectors, from July to December 2015. The interviews were guided by a semi-structured script and analyzed in light of the analysis Thematic content. From the analysis of the data emerged three thematic categories: Materials with more problems: intercurrences due to lack of quality criteria; Credibility for requesting samples for the trading session; And Knowledge about the work and purposes of the standardization committee for hospital materials. It was concluded that the acquisitions by the market, adopting the criterion lower price, do not ensure quality standards of hospital materials, exposing patients and health professionals to unjustifiable risks from the point of view of patient safety and work. Reasons sufficient to indicate the need for the implementation of pre-qualification commission of the products to analyze them before the bidding procedures. In addition, the current scenario of public financing crisis does not offer margins for waste, considering the unavoidable disposal of acquired materials that do not present quality and reliability standards so that their use does not cause adverse problems. It is believed that in order to solve the problems or minimize them, it is necessary to set up such a commission, as well as to establish an electronic system to store and share clear information about the quality of the materials already analyzed in order to provide greater security for professionals Who use them and for patients who are submitted to therapeutic procedures in teaching hospitals

Medical equipment libraries: implementation, experience and user satisfaction.

The hospital-wide pooling and sharing of certain types of medical equipment can lead to both significant improvements in patient safety and financial advantages when compared with a department or ward-level equipment ownership system. In September 2003, a Medical Equipment Loan Service (MELS) was established, focusing initially on infusion pumps. The aims and expected benefits included; improving availability of equipment for both patients and clinical users, managing and reducing clinical risk, reducing equipment diversity, improving equipment management and reducing the overall cost of equipment provision. A user survey was carried out in 2005 and repeated in 2011. The results showed wide and continued satisfaction with the service. The process and difficulties of establishing the service and its development to include additional types of equipment are described. The benefits of managing medical equipment which is in widespread general use, through a MELS as part of a Clinical Engineering Department, are presented.

Gerenciamento de recursos materiais com enfoque na queixa técnica / Management of material resources with a focus on technical complaints / Gerenciamiento de recursos materiales con enfoque en la queja técnica

Estudo descritivo cujo objetivo foi caracterizar o processo de notificação da queixa técnica de material de consumo em hospital de ensino público e integrante da Rede Hospital Sentinela da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária. Os dados obtidos dos Impressos de Notificações resultaram em 260 notificações analisadas, relativas ao período 2007 a 2009. Os resultados apontaram predominância de não conformidades no grupo de material médico-hospitalar (80,4%) e as queixas principais se referiram à estrutura dos produtos utilizados (79%). Do montante das notificações, 7,7% foram encaminhados ao Sistema Nacional de Notificações em Vigilância Sanitária. Os enfermeiros foram os profissionais que majoritariamente (81,2%) realizaram as notificações. Os achados desta investigação revelaram a relevância da implantação e uso de sistemas de registros sistemáticos de avaliações de materiais, enquanto subsídio para uma gestão eficiente no que concerne à maximização de recursos econômicos.

Descriptive study aimed to characterize the process of notification of the technical complaint of consumables in a public teaching hospital, a member of Sentinela Hospital Network of the National Health Surveillance Agency. The data obtained was from the printed notices that resulted in 260 notifications analyzed from 2007 to 2009. The results showed a predominance of non-conformities in the group of medical-hospital material (80.4%) and the main complaints referred to the structure of the products used (79%). Of the total amount of notifications, 7.7% were referred to the National System of Notifications in Sanitary Surveillance. The nurses were the professionals who mostly (81.2%) made the notifications. The findings of this research revealed the importance of implementing and using systems for making systematic records of material evaluations as a basis for efficient management regarding the maximization of economic resources.

Estudio descriptivo que objetivó caracterizar el proceso de notificación de queja técnica de material de consumo en hospital de enseñanza pública, miembro de la Red Hospitalaria Centinela de la Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria. Los datos obtenidos de los Impresos de Notificaciones totalizaron 260 notificaciones analizadas, relativas al período 2007 a 2009. Los resultados expresaron predominancia de inconformidad en el grupo de material médico-hospitalario (80,4%) y las quejas principales se refirieron a la estructura de los productos utilizados (79%). Del total de notificaciones, el 7,7% fue derivado al Sistema Nacional de Notificaciones en Vigilancia Sanitaria. Los enfermeros fueron quienes realizaron mayoritariamente las notificaciones (81,2%). Los hallazgos de esta investigaci ón revelaron la importancia de implantar y utilizar sistemas de registro informático de evaluaciones de materiales como respaldo de una gestión eficiente en lo referente a la optimización de recursos económicos

Supply chain: optimization through collaboration.

A panel of hospital leaders and other experts discuss how organizations can reduce costs and enhance the value of their supply purchases--an imperative at a time of rising prices and tightening reimbursements. One major challenge: How to gain greater physician support for those efforts.

Tying supply chain costs to patient care.

In September 2014, the FDA will establish a unique device identification (UDI) system to aid hospitals in better tracking and managing medical devices and analyzing their effectiveness. When these identifiers become part of patient medical records, the UDI system will provide a much-needed link between supply cost and patient outcomes. Hospitals should invest in technology and processes that can enable them to trace supply usage patterns directly to patients and analyze how these usage patterns affect cost and quality.

Achieving strategic cost reduction in the OR.

Hospitals should be proactive insearching for ways to control operating room supply chain costs. A hospital can identify an overall supply cost savings goal by analyzing patient-encounter data for its 15 most costly procedures and identifying the dollar figure under which 25 percent of cases fall for each procedure. After establishing savings targets, the hospital can achieve its goals through a range of approaches.