Sponsored by TKA
By Bruce Call
In my travels over three decades representing third-party providers of hospital services programs, I have long since quit being surprised when I learn that a prospective client hospital is practicing a decentralized approach to the cleaning, processing, and management of mobile equipment. While I am firm in my thoughts that centralized control of these processes yield the best results, there are reasons that “other” systems of equipment control exist.
The affected health system’s clinicians and administrators may simply be, “doing what they’ve always done.” Other times, there are “dominions” within the health system in question, such as nurses who believe only they can adequately clean, test, and process the equipment they need to care for their patients; simply put, they don’t want to give up the control of “their” equipment. And, if the situation arises in which they feel more mobile equipment was needed, well, isn’t that why equipment rental companies exist?
Mobile Equipment Asset Management – a prescription for better, less expensive hospital operations
In hospital settings, nurses don’t “hide” or hoard the equipment they need out of any motivation other than the desire to have the equipment necessary to care for their patients, when they need it.
However, as I have seen demonstrated over the years, with an effective Mobile Equipment Asset Management (MEAM) plan, nurses will no longer be in the business of finding, cleaning, and managing (or hiding and hoarding) mobile medical equipment, and they WILL have the equipment they need.
The involvement of key stakeholders such as nursing, finance, operations, and information technology (at the executive and director/manager levels) are critical to developing interest in and establishing effective MEAM programs. These groups and the teamwork among them are integral to the success of the ensuing program.
Deciding whether to engage a third-party consultant, or to develop a MEAM program internally.
Our company and a few other independent service organizations (ISOs) have employees with deep experience in the development and operation of Mobile Equipment Asset Management programs. You may choose to engage a company such as ours as a consultant who – although the perception is that we “come at a cost” – can provide great value and focus your teams on the best practices in preparing for, establishing, and operating a Mobile Equipment Asset Management program which can have a very positive, multi-dimensional impact on your health system.
Defining MEAM program challenges, goals, and equipment lists
- The amount of equipment showing as “lost”, or which “cannot locate”, is significant.
- There is no clear definition of who is responsible for cleaning mobile equipment, and to what standard.
- Equipment is being hidden, and/or hoarded, by nurses.
- A finding(s) on a recent regulatory survey spurred the interest in a MEAM program.
Generating consensus on solving these and other problems that the MEAM program will address is a great way to break down the walls between administrative, clinical, and technical staff, to solve for the impact of challenges they all experience, albeit in different ways.
Equipment types most often included in a MEAM program
- Infusion pumps and peripherals
- Bedside monitors
- Sequential compression devices or foot pumps
- Telemetry monitors
- Specialty beds and surfaces
- Bladder scanners
- Rental equipment
- … and others.
Setting and managing Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Common areas of measuring MEAM performance improvements include the following … (REMEMBER … your staff has to find ways to measure and manage these variables!)
- RESPONSE TIME – How quickly is it reasonable for equipment to be delivered after order?
- CLEANLINESS OF EQUIPMENT – What are best practices and standards for maintaining equipment cleanliness? Which department is responsible for these functions?
- LOCATION AVAILABILITY – How do you track equipment location at your health system? Is an RTLS tracking system available to help locate equipment?
- EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE – Are PMs up to snuff? What is the recognized standard for completion percentage, and the timeframe to complete PMs?
- CUSTOMER SATISFACTION – Have the staff affected by the MEAM implementation seen improvement in the indices listed above? On a scale of 1 to 5, what has been their experience with each? … at the outset? … in periodic, post-implementation responses?
A key output of a Mobile Equipment Asset Management Program – EQUIPMENT PRODUCTIVITY
Using the management of infusion devices as a basis for gauging the effectiveness of a Mobile Equipment Asset Management program is common, since these devices represent a large and challenging line item in a hospital’s mobile equipment inventory. The best of MEAM programs can, in my experience, result in a 70% productivity rate for infusion pumps – meaning that at any given time, 70% of available infusion devices are in patient rooms, delivering the drugs or nutrition those patients need.
Most often, a hospital survey will find that the infusion devices they employ are only 30-35% productive, at best. It would follow that if a 500-bed hospital – prior to the establishment of a MEAM program – needs 500 infusion devices, on average, to serve their patients, they have roughly 1,500 devices in inventory, meaning that only a third of their inventory is in use at any given time.
If, however, that same hospital was to establish an effective MEAM program, at a 70% productivity rate, it would be able to service the same patient infusion device demand with only about 714 devices, or roughly HALF (or less) of the devices they currently have in inventory. The financial savings of such efficiency gains would likely mean millions of dollars saved in acquisition costs – significantly more than enough to pay for the staff and training needed to establish a market-leading MEAM program.
Staff Satisfaction
Various studies have shown that nurses spend between 20 minutes and one hour per shift locating and managing equipment (Infor.com blog, 9.19.23; aafp.org, posted March 1, 2018). Given this fact, one of the key areas of focus in the development and implementation of a Mobile Equipment Asset Management program should be to alleviate these responsibilities for nurses to the greatest extent possible.
Successfully managed, this impact is likely to be felt by the EVS or Housekeeping department, too.
Summary
With successful design, implementation, and operation, a high-quality Mobile Equipment Asset Management program will positively impact nursing, finance, operations, information technology and other hospital departments. Costs will be controlled as the equipment quantities necessary to provide care are significantly lessened, and routine and emergent maintenance tasks for clinical engineering will be easier to accomplish because of the improved ease of location tracking of mobile equipment.
Similarly, an effective MEAM is among the factors that can increase equipment availability, impact nurse job satisfaction and retention, and greatly reduce or eliminate the need for nurses to manage mobile equipment. The equipment-related therapies prescribed for patients would be started in a more proactive, timelier manner, as well.
As part of the capital planning process, data derived from an effective MEAM will be able to focus equipment acquisition expenses into the health system’s most pressing and mission-critical areas.
Here’s wishing those of you who delve into the development of a focused Mobile Equipment Asset Management program the best of experiences – for your patients, your staff, and your health system’s bottom-line financial performance.
Bruce Call, Vice President of Sales at Tech Knowledge Associates (TKA).
