Unused Clean Utility Products Wasted at Discharge (project)

[NYCRN6]

partners organization has developed a program regarding process improvement in five hospitals that is geared towards reducing waste and improving financial expenses. we were all asked to choose a hospital sponsored project that is in our interest and my choice was supply utilization and conservation. in my experience i have seen a consistent trend of unused supplies wasted at discharge. our effort is to reduce hospital cost and become more environmentally aware of our actions. our success will be decreased hospital expense, continuous education, and awareness of everyday practice. what we need from you is to be aware of how much is brought into patient's rooms, and double check rooms before obtaining supplies. i'de like to ask you to give me your feedback of why you think this problem is a problem? for example: "as nurses we were educated to take in 2 of everything to a patient's room".

more examples:

staff want to make one trip to the pt room.

once a sterile field is opened, want supplies close at hand, so as not to break down field, go get supplies, and set up sterile field. such as performing foley insertion. bring in two, in case sterility is violated and/or failure of first attempt.

nurses are taught in school to bring in two for the reason listed above.

what do you guys think?

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

We ask staff to LOOK at what is already in the room before they haul more stuff in. Of course, some ignore the requests. Yes, I would probably bring in two urinary foley sets, but not open the second one till, and unless, needed. Part of that is for patient comfort. Who wants to wait, exposed, while the nurse goes after more supplies? Sometimes disposal is cheaper than other alternatives.

[Chaya, ASN, RN]

When possible I will leave the extra supplies just outside a pt's room so they are close at hand if needed without being brought into the pt room. For smaller supplies such as dressing materials I will put extras in my pocket; if not needed they can go back in the supply room.