Improved Nursing Workload by Introducing a Traceability System to Manage Medical Materials

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Information Technology in Medicine
• Nursing Informatics

Background:

• Inefficient management of medical materials impacts nursing workflow and hospital operational costs.
• Manual tracking systems are prone to errors and delays, affecting billing accuracy and resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a new traceability system integrating radio-frequency identification (RFID) and barcodes on nursing work and hospital management.
• To assess the efficiency gains and improvements in medical material management within operating rooms and catheterization laboratories.

Main Methods:

• Case study implementation of an RFID-compatible traceability system for medical materials.
• Comparison of work times between RFID and barcode systems in an operating room setting.
• Introduction of a barcode-based cartel management system and RFID-compatible inventory cabinet in a catheterization laboratory.

Main Results:

• RFID system reduced work time to approximately one-tenth compared to barcode reading in the operating room.
• The new system digitized data, eliminating manual voucher creation and improving secure billing.
• Enhanced efficiency in medical material management and nursing workflow was observed.

Conclusions:

• The integrated RFID and barcode traceability system offers substantial improvements in nursing efficiency and medical material management.
• This technology facilitates data linkage, paving the way for enhanced overall hospital management and operational optimization.