[The proposed principles by GHTF of the classification and assessment for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) medical devices].

The IVD (In Vitro Diagnostic)Medical Devices are various and develop rapidly. This paper introduces briefly the principles of classification and conformity assessment for IVD medical that proposed by GHTF (Global Harmonization Task Force).

[ABC supplies classification: a managment tool of costs in nursing]. / Classificação ABC dos materiais: uma ferramenta gerencial de custos em enfermagem.

The implementation of costs management systems has been extremely helpful to healthcare area owing to their efficacy in cutting expenditures as well as improving service quality. The ABC classification is an applied strategy to stocktaking and control. The research, which consists of an exploratory/descriptive quantitative analysis, has been carried out in order to identify, in a year time period, the demand for supplies at Universidade de Sao Paulo's Hospital. Of 1938 classified materials, 67 itens had been classified that they correspond to the materials with bigger costs for the hospital. 31.3% of these A-Class supplies catalogued items are the nursing materials, more used for the nursing team.

Using HFMEA to assess potential for patient harm from tubing misconnections.

BACKGROUND: Reported cases of tubing misconnections and other tubing errors prompted Columbus Children's Hospital to study their potential for harm in its patient population. A Health Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (HFMEA) was conducted in October 2004 to determine the risks inherent in the use and labeling of various enteral, parenteral, and other tubing types in patient care and the potential for patient harm. METHODS: An assessment of the practice culture revealed considerable variability among nurses and respiratory therapists within and between units. Work on an HFMEA culminated in recommendations of risk reduction strategies. These included standardizing the process of labeling of tubing throughout the organization, developing an online pictorial catalog to list available tubing supplies with all aliases used by staff, and conducting an inventory of all supplies to identify products that need to be purchased or discontinued. Three groups are working on implementing each of the recommendations. RESULTS: Most of the results already realized occurred in labeling of tubing. The pediatric intensive care unit labels all tubing with infused medications 85% of the time; tubings inserted during surgery or in interventional radiology are labeled 53% and 93% of the time. Pocket-size cards with printed labels were tested in three units. DISCUSSION: This proactive risk assessment project has identified failure modes and possible causes and solutions; several recommendations have been implemented. No tubing misconnections have been reported.

Managing hospital supplies: process reengineering at Gujarat Cancer Research Institute, India.

PURPOSE: Aims to give an overview of the re-engineering of processes and structures at Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI), Ahmedabad. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A general review of the design, development and implementation of reengineered systems in order to address concerns about the existing systems. Findings GCRI is a comprehensive cancer care center with 550 beds and well equipped with modern diagnostic and treatment facilities. It serves about 200,000 outpatients and 16,000 inpatients annually. The approach to a better management of hospital supplies led to the design, development, and implementation of an IT-based reengineered and integrated purchase and inventory management system. The new system has given GCRI a saving of about 8 percent of its annual costs of purchases, and improved the availability of materials to the user departments. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Shows that the savings obtained are used not only for buying more hospital supplies, but also to buy better quality of hospital supplies, and thereby satisfactorily address the GCRI responsibility towards meeting its social obligations for cancer care.

Classificação ABC dos materiais: uma ferramenta gerencial de custos em enfermagem / Clasificación ABC de materiales: una herramienta gerencial de costos en enfermería / ABC supplies classification: a managment tool of costs in nursing

A implementação de sistemas que auxiliam no gerenciamento de custos é importante para a área de saúde, quando visa contenção de gastos e melhoria da qualidade do serviço. A classificação ABC dos materiais é uma estratégia aplicada para controle de gastos com estoque. A finalidade deste estudo é conhecer o perfil dos gastos com material de consumo do Hospital Universitário da Universidade de São Paulo no período de um ano. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório-descritivo com análise quantitativa dos dados. Dos 1938 materiais classificados, 67 itens foram Classe A, que correspondem aos materiais com maiores custos para o hospital. 31,3 por cento destes itens correspondem a materiais assistenciais, mais utilizados pela equipe de enfermagem.

The implementation of costs management systems has been extremely helpful to healthcare area owing to their efficacy in cutting expenditures as well as improving service quality. The ABC classification is an applied strategy to stocktaking and control. The research, which consists of an exploratory/descriptive quantitative analysis, has been carried out in order to identify, in a year time period, the demand for supplies at Universidade de Sao Paulo's Hospital. Of 1938 classified materials, 67 itens had been classified that they correspond to the materials with bigger costs for the hospital. 31,3 percent of these A-Class supplies catalogued items are the nursing materials, more used for the nursing team.

La implementación de los sistemas que auxilian en la gerencia de costos es importante para la área del servicio médico, por la contención de costos y mejoría de la calida de los servicios. La clasificación ABC de los materiales es una estrategia aplicada para el control de costos del inventario. La finalidad del trabajo es conocer el perfil de costos con materiales de consumo del Hospital Universitario de la Universidad de São Paulo en el periodo de uno año. Consiste en un análisis cuantitativo de exploratorio-descriptivo de los datos. De los 1938 materiales clasificados, 67 ítems fueron Classe A, que corresponden a los materiales de mayores costos para el hospital. 31.3 por ciento de los ítems corresponden a los materiales asistenciales, mas utilizados por el equipo de enfermera.

Technology. Behind the hype.

Having proven successful in retail, military and other industries, radio frequency identification is making its way into health care. But can the technology live up to the bold claims?

Actual and estimated costs of disposable materials used during surgical procedures.

It is difficult to estimate precisely the costs of disposable materials used during surgical operations. To evaluate the actual costs of disposable materials, we calculated the actual costs of disposable materials used in 59 operations by taking account of costs of all disposable materials used for each operation. The costs of the disposable materials varied significantly from operation to operation (US$ 38-4230 per operation), and the median [25-percentile and 75-percentile] of the sum total of disposable material costs of a single operation was found to be US$ 686 [205 and 993]. Multiple regression analysis with a stepwise regression method showed that costs of disposable materials significantly correlated only with operation time (p<0.001). Based on the results, we propose a simple method for estimating costs of disposable materials by measuring operation time, and we found that the method gives reliable results. Since costs of disposable materials used during surgical operations are considerable, precise estimation of the costs is essential for hospital cost accounting. Our method should be useful for planning hospital administration strategies.