Using Efficiency Tasks and Maintenance Logs to Optimize SPD Operations

Welcome to ConCensis, a podcast from Censis Technologies. Hello, everyone and welcome to a podcast brought to you by Censis. I'll be your host for today, Gabrielle. And today I'm joined by Kelly Swails, who's the Clinical Business Manager at Censis, as well as Desiree Acedo, Supervisor of the Sterile Processing Department at Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center. And we're here today to discuss using efficiency task lists to give credit where credit is due. So thank you both for being here. It's going to be a great conversation. Thank you. Thank you. Pleasure absolutely. Well, Desiree, we're excited to have you on the podcast today. So could you just for our audience, introduce yourself and just tell us a little bit about yourself, your role at the hospital. So again, my name is Desiree. I kind of do everything. I'm a surgical tech by trade, but I'm the supervisor of sterile processing. I sort of coordinate everything between sterile processing and the OR. So I'm more of a liaison. But one of the ways that I do that, of course, is keeping sterile processing, running efficiently and making sure that everything is together for upcoming surgeries. So pretty much that sums it up. Jack of all trades? Pretty much. Pretty much, Yeah. Well, how long have you been using sensor track at your facility? So I've been here about 2 and 1/2 years, so that's how long I've been using it. I believe they have it installed maybe a year or two before I started here. Well, Kelly, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to you now. It's great to have you back on the podcast. Could you please just give us a brief introduction and just tell us what you've been up to recently? Yes, Thank you. And Thank you for having me. As you stated on the clinical business manager at census technologies, I oversee our service program. And what that is, is our customers that have service. Plus my team and I, we go on site, we do utilization assessments to see how well you are using such a track launch link or a schedule or scope, scope, track, advanced, any of those or all of those. And then with that, we'll do the assessment and then send a trainer on site. So one of our clinical trainers then come on. And the goal of that is to help you maximize your sense of track utilization as well as assist with some compliance so that when you have Joint Commission being inspections, whoever else, department of health, whoever comes to your department to help you be more compliant as well as having that electronic information. So when they ask for something, you have it right there and you're not having to dig through boxes of paper. Of course, you know, Kelly, you're going to have the answer to this. The answer to this podcast, which we're talking about efficiency task list. Right so what is an efficiency task list? And just why would a department use it? Yep so the way I explain it to customers is think of everything you do in your department that is not in sensor track. And that's where most people will use efficiency task lists. So for example, you have to clean your sterilizer drains daily in accordance with if your washers, you need to inspect the screens or clean the screens. And then inspect the spray arms. If you have a task where they do clinic rounds and they have to go pick up dirty stuff or deliver sterilized. All those things that are not, per se in sense track, you can put them in as an efficiency task and it's all free. Text so you call it what you want. You can assign a time to it. You don't have to, but you can assign a time. And then when the staff perform that duty, they just scan a barcode to show that it was done. Well, Desiree, I'm going to turn it over to you again here for a second, because I understand you use EFT at your facility. Where have you seen improvements where you're using eft? I mean, for me personally, there's a lot less paperwork to have to keep up with since everything gets sent to my email. I just pull up my emails every morning, go through and fill out a report that I have to submit to my bosses. And it's just an easy transfer of information from one screen to the next, basically. So it really has streamlined and freed up more of my time to do the other 1,000 tasks that I have to do. Oh, gosh. Yeah and freed up your desk of all the extra paperwork because now it's all in one central area. Well, you know, Kelly, just what are maybe some benefits to using eft? Other than it streamlines the process, it sends a lot of paperwork to your email. So you're not having that physical paper. But maybe just what are some of the more major benefits of using eft? Yep so as I mentioned, you're scanning that barcode that when you scan that, that's going to document that task was completed with a date and time stamp. And that user. I always feel you get a lot more credibility when you have electronic documentation and reports, because if I was asked, can you show me your eyewash station log? And I say, Yep. And I go to get it. And I see that someone forgot to record it on Sunday. Well, I can pencil that in quick and cheat. Whereas when it's electronic, you get a lot more credibility because it's a true date and time stamp. And then along with that too is when you're looking at those logs, can you read everyone's handwriting? Along with some of the information that you record, you look at Amy guidelines, it says name, not initials. On some of those standards and those recommendations that you should be doing. And so it's your full name in there. And then when, as I mentioned, having to get that report. So in less than 30 seconds, I could have that report. At a sense track printed, handing it to whoever needs it versus having to go dig through boxes of paper along with that is just the time it takes to fill out all the information. Like quicker to scan a barcode. Oh Yeah. I mean, that streamlines the process incredibly by just having to scan the barcode itself. And you know, Desiree, you mentioned paperless documentation. So aside from storage, as I mentioned, you know, how does utilizing EFT compare to paper documentation? Well, like Kelly mentioned, you know, you had these situations previously where I'd be auditing the records and you'd have all these blank spots, boxes that weren't filled in. Something was missing, either a date, a time and initial. And then, of course, someone could always go in which they tended to do and just write in like, oh, OK, what was this date? Let me just initial it. But that's falsifying documents, really. And in our line of work, that's actually very bad because majority of our documentation is considered legal paperwork. And so if you doctor a legal document, well, then you can set yourself up for some real trouble. So doing it through this efficiency task list that we have in sense of track now, it really does stop that from happening. And because I get those reports sent to me every morning, I'm able to see right away if something was missed. We're still within our time frame window. And so then I can have my next shift or my lead person go and complete that one task that was missed as opposed to not finding it for several days. So it's really good in that regard. Well, Kelly, anything to add there? Yeah, as you mentioned, that compliance and making sure things are done, I mean, we are human. We will forget to do things. And that's what I like about using efficiency task in having that emailed report so I could have an emailed to me every day at 9:00 AM. And that's going to show that all my tasks for that morning were done. Or not done. Well, if I get it at 9:00 a.m., I can then walk into the Department and say, hey, no one completed cleaning the sterilizer drains. How come? And they say, oh, that was Sally's job. And she called in sick. It's like, OK, well, can you do that? Now they go, they scan it, they complete it, and then you've got that 100% compliance and you can have that emailed to everybody in leadership or the whole team, or you have someone who is responsible for that. So if you're out, someone else is getting those emails and verifying that things are done and you're still within your day, your time frame, in accordance with how your SOP is written so that you have that compliance and everything is completed in there. And then, as you said, no paper you're saving. Yes, you're saving trees. But when you look at some of those tasks that have to be done many times, I see that eyewash stations in the decontaminate area, well, that's dirty paper. And if you're storing dirty paper, you have to go dig that out years later or months later, any time. I mean, I feel like you need to have a biohazard suit on or something because of all the germs and the stuff that's in there. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely and you know, Desiree, you know, how did you go about deciding what tasks to use EFT for? So some of it was based on Amy standards, what they require of us to document every day or monthly or however they designate it. Another thing that we looked at was corporate policy and then of course also the IFU for our different devices, whether it's our sterilizer, our cart washers, all the equipment that we have in the department, there's an instructions for use and it tells you how often you have to test it, how often you have to clean it. And so all of those things I took into account when building the efficiency task list, and then I separated everything out by those specific groups. So daily, monthly, weekly is actually really easy to do. And Kelly, do you have anything to add there? Yeah, when you know, when you're setting up those tasks you want to put in there, if you're putting in the time you want to put in that average time. So for example, if I am going to document, how long does it take to go do your clinic rounds and pick up dirty stuff? Well, I'm going to see how long it takes. Maybe 3 to five different people. Because you may have chatty Cathy who talks to everybody along the way, and then you got somebody else who just does their job and they're quiet. So it may take this person 30 minutes to do it. And it could take this person an hour to do it, depending on how social they are. And so it's nice then to get that average. Then you have the option is do you tell the staff and have it display on the barcode? How much time are they given? Or you can have that time in there, but then it's hidden. For example, if I'm given 45 minutes to do my clinic rounds, but I know I can have it done in 30. Are you going to. Am I someone who's hiding out somewhere or stop at the cafeteria for breakfast? So there's all these different things you take into consideration with that. And the key point with putting those times in there is that productivity. Everybody wants credit for the work that they do and that is showing then. Here's where I was. In my productivity for 45 minutes or 30 minutes or five minutes. Even So, Desiree and Kelly, you know, we've talked a little bit about time and we're venturing into productivity. You know, just what about the tasks that are pre-built into sense of track? So the tasks that are pre-built in. What comes to mind for me is like the testing of the sterilizers. Is that what you're referring to? Yes so actually, if I can add up here, what that is actually ones that are pre-built in. So if you're looking at efficiency tasks, there is going to be ones that are pre-built in. You can add time to them, but you can't edit that. So that is, for example, how long does it take to process a container in the module? How long does it take to build a case cart in the case cart module? And so when you're coming up with those times, again, you almost have to be in there with a stopwatch. So any time if I go and I scan, this container comes in and decontaminate. I want to start my stopwatch. The minute I go to scan it, touch it, do anything, I bring it to the sink. I do whatever I need to do. And then maybe I let it soak in the sink for a little bit. The minute I walk away, turn around from that sink, that time would stop. I got to do other things. I come back. When I come back, then I'm going to rinse it. Maybe carry it over to the ultrasonic that time is going again. So it's kind of a starting stop to where you get a true time in there. And then I would do it for multiple containers, multiple people to get that average. And Desiree, so the pre-built ones now that Kelly clarified that for me, so we are actually not utilizing the pre-built ones as of right now. We just kind of went in and customize all of our own. One of the things that we're not doing here yet is building case carts. We are going to start transitioning to that area here hopefully pretty soon. But as of yet, we are not doing that. And another feature, which I'm glad she mentioned, this is the adding the time to each one of those tasks. So currently we just have the minimum time assigned to it because you do have to assign some kind of time, but we haven't really changed that. Hopefully Kelly or someone can teach us how to utilize that because that is something that I would love to start using at some point. Desiree you know, what about compliance? Our staff receptive to using eft? Our staff is very receptive and again for a couple of different reasons. One being they don't have to keep track of all the different log books in writing everything and then remembering, oh, did I do it? Did I miss it? Or again, falsifying. Because like myself, I do have a couple of staff members that are very aware of the implications that come with falsifying. So when we started transitioning to that, they were more than happy to start learning how to do it. Some of the bumps in the road, of course, were remembering to sign off. After you scan, you have to scan your badge. So there was a little bit of that along the way, but for the most part, I had no resistance from anyone doing that. And Kelly, what are your thoughts? Our staff overall receptive to using eft? Yeah, you know, you always have those that are resistant to change and like what this is, why are we doing this? We've always done it on paper, but once they see the benefits of it, see how quick it is, get past that little learning curve, which isn't much. It's just, hey, scan this barcode instead of writing down I was feeling I see 100% buy in because everybody wants to be more efficient. Everybody kind of the easy way out. The easiest way to do this and scan the barcode is your easiest way to do it. Well, you know, as we start to close out the conversation for today, both Desiree and Kelly, is there just anything else that we need to share about eft? What are your thoughts there? So one thing is I look at really, I recommend leadership. Talk to your staff. You know, what are you guys doing on a daily basis? A weekly basis? Maybe it's weekends only that's not in sensor track. That is one of our tasks or our duties. And maybe it's not even one of the tasks for the duties, but it's something that we all just do. So if I have to go down and get more blue wrap, if it's a walk all the way down to materials management and back, that could be half an hour. Well, then, half hour a day, maybe. Sometimes it's two people, depending on how busy you are. I mean, that adds up. So really drill down, come up with those tasks and then with that, figure out those times. Because you would be shocked at what is going on that is not being recorded. So, for example, I worked at a hospital, I had staff. Two of them went into clinic rounds three times a day. Well, when I look to see how much time that takes and then add it all up. I was at take in the 215 minute breaks to half hour lunch. That's 7.5 hours a day. That is almost a full FTE. We are half an hour short per day of a full FTE. So when I look at my productivity and I'm saying I need more staff and they're saying, well, here's what you're doing and here's how many staff have. Well, we had basically one whole position that was not being recorded, documented anything. And when you look at the whole staffing concerned with sterile processing, what a great way to start looking and having that in there to show, hey, we are busy. Or even if they say, well, your staff are only working at 40% productivity, you know, an hour here, we require that everybody's at least 60% before we'll even discuss staffing. Well, they are probably 60. It's just that a lot of the stuff is not being recorded in sensor track. And I can talk about it. I can say, well, we do clinic rounds and we check Iowa stations and that. But me talking about it versus it being right there in a hard document, Black and white. That's going to speak a lot more. I agree 100% I mean, having that justification when you are talking to higher UPS about how many staff members you need, because there are those things that they don't take into account. Another example is when someone's assembling an instrument set, sometimes it could take them 20 or 30 minutes to find instruments that are missing or need to be replaced in a tray. So that's 20 or 30 minutes that are lost are unaccounted for. I should say that I feel should count towards our productivity, but currently it doesn't. So having that hard documentation with these specific times on how long everything is taking could maybe help us as managers go in and get the higher UPS to justify changing their formula of how they calculate our productivity for us. Kelly do you want to add on that? And Desiree, I just learned something from you and made me think of something that you're correct. If you have a missing instrument from your set, you're going to go look at your backup stack. And that could be quick and easy. It's right there. I find it no big deal. Nothing to scan less than a minute. It took me. But what about when you can't find it in that backup stack? So now I go check all the baskets that came out with that whole load. Or I look over in the pack area, I can't find it. So I peeked my head in a decontaminate for the past the window and say, hey, I'm missing this instrument. Do you have it back there? Have you seen it? No now I run up to the or I'm checking the dirty utility room because maybe when they turn the room over, they found it. Nope can't find it. And I come back. That can be anywhere from just five minutes to maybe 30 minutes, depending on where you're located or how many dirty utility rooms do you have to check because you don't know which one it came from. And so what a great thing is to have kind of an instrument search or missing something like worded, to say looking for a missing instrument. And you give them a 10 minute scan and then you give a 5 minute scan. And if took me 15 minutes, then I would scan the 10 and the five. And then you could compare that to say, OK, when they scan this, let's go look at the container that they assembled. Yes, this container look took longer and it did have a missing instrument. So it's not just someone scanning something to get credit. You can always verify that. I like that. So I will use that now when I'm doing assessments with customers, it's like, hey, I have a good idea for you because all that time adds up. It does. Well, that rounds up the conversation for today. So a big Thank you to Kelly and Desiree for joining me on today's podcast to discuss using efficiency task lists. So we can give credit where credit is due. It was a pleasure to have you on today. Thank you. It's a pleasure, of course. And as always, if you want to learn more, please visit sensis and look for this podcast wherever it is you get your podcasts at. Thanks for tuning in.