Scanning in the supply room

[elizabeast7]

Greetings!

Our hospital has supply rooms set up for each unit with a scanning system. We are routinely not scanning, and thus not charging for supplies.

Hypothetically, staff will sign into the computer, select the patient, scan the item, hit save and log out of their ID.

This is not happening.

Any suggestions? How does your facility track supplies?

[RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN]

Yes - that is how we are, too. Things are grouped in two categories.

Non-scan - syringes, toiletries, etc.

Scanned - wound care, foleys, IV tubing, etc. ]]

I can't imagine scanning foleys and IV tubing! We only scan meds. That's it!

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

We scan things not captured as a unit charge such as urinary cath kits, PICC line sets, CT sets, cooling items, certain probes, UAC set ups, art line transducers, things not used in a daily usual use basis.

It is so much easier to scan the barcodes at the bedside. We have a few things that pop up in our EMR such as IV insertion, certain line items, positioning items, wound care.

No matter what we think, all these charges add up and do affect unit budget.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

A guess is they are not scanning because of the time element. It takes extra time they don't have to do it. At one place of employment, we use to have "tickets" or "stickies" on the item that could be removed and placed in the chart. You could carry the ticket (sticky) with you until you could get to the chart. The charges could be put in later by a clerical person. It worked well, not that some weren't missed here and there.

[NurseKatie08, MSN]

We use a Pyxis type system where you log in and select either the patient, or a "stock patient". Only way you can get to supplies is to log in, however people (myself included) often pick whatever random patient they first touch, especially if they are in a hurry. For that reason I am not so sure how well it works.

[CamillusRN, BSN]

We have a sticker system - little yellow sticker on the item is placed on a charge sheet taped to the wall in the patient's room. q midnight, the charge sheet is collected and processed by the unit clerk and submitted to accounts receivable when the patient is discharged. No logging in, selecting the patient, scanning, waiting for the system for the system to process before scanning next item. I love it. Accounts receivable? Probably not so much.

[Asystole RN]

Supplies costing more than $10 were stored in an electronic cabinet (Pyxis/Omnicell) and were signed out. The less expensive supplies were averaged out and billed to patients in a daily supply cost that was linked to the bed.

[CamillusRN, BSN]

I like the idea of putting the larger items in the Pyxis. I think that would work best for our unit. We've joked about putting a camera and mic in there and having the HUC watch them. Then she could be like "KAREN, I KNOW THAT'S YOUR ASS. YOU BETTER SCAN THOSE IV LINES." We actually have a wing that has been redesigned to be offices and probably has security cameras/monitors we can use.

At my old hospital, we had a pyxis system that held our IV flushes at the end of one hall, while our attached ED was at the end of the other hall. Admin wanted every flush charged to a specific patient, one flush per removal. This meant that an ER patient would have to be admitted (done by the RN), set up in the system (also done by the RN), and processed before the pyxis would even allow a flush to be removed (in other words, 10-15 minutes before getting an IV lock). I think I may have gotten a dozen write-ups for "stealing" a handful of flushes at the top of each shift in case someone needing a STAT IV came in to the ER. Of course I charged them and returned the extras, but that didn't matter because it was "against policy." So glad I left that hellhole.

[Asystole RN]

If the OP, and her hospital, are serious about organizing their logistics with supply tracking then there are entire companies dedicated to this. I would recommend asking for a meeting with several of them to see what options and tools they can provide. Your supply distributer or pharmacy can help with tracking some of these companies down.

My personal favorite is the use of RFID badges used to log in and out of computers along with RFID stickers to track supplies. Much faster and easier just to wave a wand across a box of supplies than it is to actually log into a computer and scan each item individually.

[Dogen]

I've never been asked to track supplies other than meds. Supplies are charged as part of the room (part of why a day in the ICU is more expensive than a day in a med surg bed) and the supply room has a wall unit that weighs each bin and alerts central supply when a particular bin is too light. Since this is the largest hospital in the city, either they can do it this way because of their volume (totally possible) or they're doing something right... in that it doesn't require me to keep track of how many ******* flushes I used today.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

We dont scan meds or supplies. Patients get what they need when they need it. In my LTC patients pay or are subsidised X amount per week. In the public hospitals, we use what we need, put back what we dont. Keeping track of stock is the responsibility of the charge nurse/stock technican

I'm sure the bean counters hate the nurses however I cant imagine having to scan every single item used for my patients

[elizabeast7, ADN, BSN, MSN]

At my old hospital, we had a pyxis system that held our IV flushes at the end of one hall, while our attached ED was at the end of the other hall. Admin wanted every flush charged to a specific patient, one flush per removal.

Woah! Thank God flushes are not included in the list of items that are supposed to be scanned. That would never be done. That sounds like an unrealistic expectation!

We are supposed to be scanning the larger items required for skills/procedures like IV tubing, foleys, NG tubes, IV start kits, etc. The syringes, flushes, swabs, toiletries, etc.. all of that is charged to the unit automatically and I can take handfuls at a time.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

We have a sticker system - little yellow sticker on the item is placed on a charge sheet taped to the wall in the patient's room. q midnight, the charge sheet is collected and processed by the unit clerk and submitted to accounts receivable when the patient is discharged. No logging in, selecting the patient, scanning, waiting for the system for the system to process before scanning next item. I love it. Accounts receivable? Probably not so much.

I think this system probably works better.