Frontline healthcare workers are the ones using the medical devices most often , so they know how they should function properly to perform their jobs effectively , and they must communicate with the clinical and biomedical engineers who maintain the equipment , as well as talk to the healthcare institution ’ s purchasing department personnel who are procuring medical equipment and supplies , and the IT department personnel who are managing the network and making sure that all the pieces interact together .”
— Robert Schluth
The pandemic has exhausted healthcare personnel , so the challenge is ensuring that their sense have not been dulled by their energy stores being depleted by competing priorities .
“ Even before the pandemic , one of the challenges of problem-reporting is the effort that it requires and healthcare workers are very busy people ,” Schluth confirms . “ In our report ECRI offers some ideas for how to help them , such as when possible , simplifying a process so it doesn ’ t take so much time for someone to notify others of an issue . Healthcare workers have so much going on , and I think they ’ re doing an amazing job , but anytime they can look out for potential hazards and have someone follow up on them , that ’ s helpful .”
The issues on ECRI ’ s list underscore the importance of communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals from all departments .
“ Identifying and managing hazards requires the engagement of a full team of stakeholders ,” Schluth says . “ Frontline healthcare workers are the ones using the medical devices most often , so they know how they should function properly to perform their jobs effectively , and they must communicate with the clinical and biomedical engineers who maintain the equipment , as well as talk to the healthcare institution ’ s purchasing department personnel who are procuring medical equipment and supplies , and the IT department personnel who are managing the network and making sure that all the pieces interact together . There are many places along this chain where something goes wrong or where someone could catch something and make it go right again . So , the more you get people working together , the better chance you have of having a solid system for patient care .”
The Hazards We highlight several of ECRI ’ s hazards that have the greatest implication for infection prevention .
The No . 2 issue , Supply Chain Shortfalls Pose Risks to Patient Care , is of critical importance to the healthcare sector which suffered through the what ECRI calls the “ perfect storm ” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and perpetuated by politics , labor shortages and other factors . ECRI says it is a “ crisis of international scale , with multiple product lines suddenly being in high demand , supported by insufficient supply chains designed around lean inventory models .”
ECRI explains in its top 10 health technology hazards that the vulnerability of supply chains , a problem that existed well before the pandemic , stemmed from several factors :
• Downward cost pressures have driven healthcare device manufacturers and distributors to source product from offshore manufacturers and have prompted healthcare organizations to maintain lean inventories that depend on justin-time deliveries .
• Ongoing vendor standardization among healthcare providers has resulted in contracts with fewer manufacturers and distributors . This , combined with the fact that many manufacturers and distributors have been providing only a limited quantity of supplies , has affected product availability .
“ Not only was the pandemic a perfect storm that challenged healthcare supply chains , but the world is grappling with the aftermath of a health crisis on an international scale which led to multiple product lines suddenly being in high demand everywhere across the globe ,” acknowledges Schluth . “ That stressed the system like it hasn ’ t been stressed ever , probably . Even with the COVID-19 pandemic , there were existing vulnerabilities within the healthcare supply chain and the crisis just brought this situation to the breaking point .”
Schluth continues , “ Some of those vulnerabilities included the supply chain being built around lean-inventory models and dependent on just-in-time ( JIT ) deliveries . There are very good reasons for JIT inventory , but there are downsides , and the pandemic brought some of those to light .
Also , there ’ s a trend among healthcare facilities standardizing on one or two vendors for a particular product , which can be a good cost-saving measure and that has benefits , but the drawback , of course , is that you might not have a broad base of alternate suppliers . So , when supplies get tight , and product manufacturing is occurring in China , there will be significant disruption in the pipeline , aggravated further by pandemic-related shutdowns . Somewhat related to that is the lack of visibility around the sources of the raw materials and the components that go into healthcare products that can impact manufacturing and make it grind to a halt if key materials are dependent upon one region or one source and that source goes offline . We are still working