Michael L. Tassler, CBET, biomedical technology services, Baylor Regional Medical Center, Grapevine, Tex, wrote and said if he could figure out how to post something for the best practices blog he would. Well, he did the perfect thing—he wrote to me and I can post it on his behalf, which is the only way to start a new topic on the blog (what can I say, it’s the system.) Here’s what he said:

“Since time is the enemy of all techs getting things done with in the workday, maybe you could use this tidbit of advice. As a biomed technician we document everything. Sometimes we find ourselves saying the same thing over and over again. To help me with standardization of terminologies I use my cheat sheet, quick cut and paste, or whatever you want to call it.”

Here’s Michael’s advice on how to make your own: “Create a Word document—Microsoft Word is most common here, but the same will go for whatever word processor program you are using—and fill it up with your repeated phrases or processes. Close and save it and keep it handy for references of activities to quickly copy and paste the activity into your documentation. Here’s an example:

PM completed by vendor

Verified completion of on-site service

Reviewed vendor’s paperwork/charges are referenced to WO # xxxx

More...

Figuring out how to cut costs and not jobs is on everyone’s mind, and in our September issue the article Cautious Optimism shares some great best practices on how to whittle down expenses while saving jobs. Here’s some of what Steve Kehrberg, VP, supply chain/clinical engineering at Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), Tacoma, Wash, shared.

Kehrberg has employed a multipronged strategy across CHI’s 70 hospitals, 22 states, and more than 350 clinical engineering staff members. A repair depot for some equipment, including intermittent suction units, IV pumps, endoscopy units, and other smaller items, has helped reduce expenses when spread out and employed systemwide. With some small critical access hospitals using only one biomed, and others employing 18 in-house clinical engineering folks, Kehrberg has also transferred support from larger shops to smaller ones to avoid using more costly service providers.

He said: “We have also looked into removing some of the service components from some of the contracts. For example, on some of the flat plate detectors for digital cath labs, we have removed OEM detector coverage from the service contracts. And we are covering them in a risk pool with our internal insurance company. Basically, we are self-insuring the glassware for the detectors on the cath labs, and that has been successful for us.”

We’d like to know what strategies you’ve used. All are welcome to comment on the blog so share your tips and help other departments thrive.

With tight controls on budgets, upgrading any equipment at this time may take some strong convincing, but in our August Industry Insider section, Nelson Fathollahi, CEO of Ampronix, makes a good case for using LCD monitors.

Citing better image quality, a more vivid image, no radiation, and less downtime, he says that for a radiologist, “image quality is really the key to having a good, careful diagnosis." He says the end result—viewing images—is important to physicians and radiologist. He adds, “No matter how good the machine you have is, you still have to look through some sort of a display. If the display is not functioning properly, then you are really compromising the whole system. What’s the use of having an expensive million-dollar system when you don’t have the right product at the end to view it?”

Have you changed to LCD monitors? Any comments or tips you can share? Blog about it with us!

This week, we welcome Manny Furst, technical project manager, IHE Patient Care Device Domain, and president of Improvement Technologies LLC, as our guest blogger. In the September 1 Weekly Jolt we featured a call for profile proposals from the PCD domain. Here, Manny expands on why your input is needed and important.
 
“The need for interoperable communications (nonproprietary, standards-based messages) carrying device data to enterprise applications such as the electronic health record is obvious. Making this happen requires users to define needs and priorities and companies to voluntarily engage with competitors and others to build upon standards to define truly interoperable messages. Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), which has several specialty domains (radiology, cardiology, etc), provides a forum for this effort. The PCD domain is charged with developing the technical requirements for messages from point-of-care medical devices (eg, infusion pumps, patient monitoring, and ventilators). This includes physiologic, operational—pump flow rate, alarms to caregivers—and device data (eg, battery condition). The PCD’s existing 'profiles' can be found online and the PCD invites you to identify your needs."

Here, Manny asks: "What do you see as high priority needs? Are you asking vendors to supply IHE conforming systems? Are you asking vendors if they are actively engaged in developing IHE profiles and products? We hope you’ll blog about it with your colleagues by commenting on this.”