Improving patient flow and patient experience/confidence by making lean changes to the work stream.
Breast Care Units undertake a lot of biopsies and cyst aspirations and the accompanying consumables required for this need to be well organised and close at hand to prevent staff leaving the patient mid-procedure to locate missing stock.
To improve our system and reduce disruption to procedures we created a new system. We purchased a second identical trolley matching the layout, the same stock in the same place in both trolleys. We used the coloured strips that came with the trolley to identify the drawers. Then in the stock cupboard we taped the coloured strips to the shelves and filled them to match the drawers.
Photographs were taken of the fully stocked drawers these were laminated and placed in the stock cupboard. This enables the trolleys to be swapped and stocked mid-clinic, the items are quick and easy to locate and the photographs help to identify what is missing as well as what needs topping up.
This has made an improvement to the flow of our clinics and to the confidence of the patients as the staff are able to spend more quality time with the patient during the procedure.
In addition, a laminated inventory card has been created for each stock item with the electronic ordering system information on it and our average monthly usage of the item. When a member of staff takes the last box of an item from the shelf the inventory card is placed in a folder on the door for ordering, once ordered the date and number of items is written in wipe-off marker on the card and placed into an ‘awaiting delivery folder’.
This has meant that we no longer run out of items and that we do not overstock which helps to keep the stock room tidy and well organised.