By Heather Annolino
The global pandemic has not been a typical health crisis; the scale of its impact is unlike anything health leaders have ever seen before. Despite the courageous efforts by health systems delivering day-to-day crisis care across the country, the healthcare supply chain has been truly tested as the demand to secure higher than standard quantities of medical supplies has strained processes all along the chain. As manufacturers work to address these disruptions, the evolving health and safety requirements and new surges of COVID-19 cases are overexerting the supply chain once again.
With businesses now open and flu season emerging across the country, masks, gloves, and face shields aren’t just in demand from medical professionals, as nursing homes, prisons, trucking companies, and construction, etc. are industries now also in need of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The ongoing shortages of PPE, ventilators, and other medical supplies has created a crisis within a crisis as facilities work to ensure healthcare worker’s safety. As we enter the uncharted waters of another more severe COVID-19 case surge, there are key concerns around patient safety and risk professionals regarding what is to come with hospitals beginning to experience capacity issues.
This type of disruption has affected how states can address their ongoing efforts of ensuring they have the recommended level of medical supplies and PPE as the threat of a twindemic (the intersection of this year’s flu season and surging cases of COVID-19) loom. Health systems cannot control the external factors that affect the healthcare supply chain, so it is imperative for healthcare facilities to always remain prepared for any possible scenario. This includes having the full internal insight to identify hidden patterns and trends that can reveal vulnerabilities within staff workflows, operational processes, and patient safety risks that can be affected by the lack of PPE and medical supplies.
Planning for the unknown is key when decision making must adjust in real-time, and it is important to have all the information available to decide what comes next in a crisis. An efficient risk management and patient safety strategy require systems with the ability to capture key data insight allowing healthcare leaders to track and analyze data. This can enhance processes and provide health leaders with the correct data needed to confidently shape and execute a tactical plan to mitigate new and historical patient safety risks, safeguard staff, and effectively secure and manage medical supply inventory. Here are three ways centralized systems using AI and predictive analytics can help streamline processes:
Pandemic Assessment Readiness
Utilizing online assessment and survey tools, organizations can quickly and accurately create and assess COVID-19 location preparedness for managing the pandemic and potential staff impacts to ensure a prompt response. Also, the solution can display locations and their risk in relation to COVID-19 activity, socioeconomic factors, and other elements. Organizations can store and report all location inspection information and provide analytics related to locations and their state of preparedness.
Data Sets and GIS Mapping
The use of geospatial analytics can help organizations identify the hotspots where the pandemic is most rampant. This can then be compared with vital resource information, including beds, staffing, testing supplies (available and anticipated), equipment, and more to create a full picture of the pandemic’s severity in the community.
PPE and Fit Test Management
Hospital leaders can easily identify employees with expired fit tests and streamline the process of documenting proper protection of respirator types and compare preferences and requirements against availability to ensure appropriate PPE is being used and obtained.
The key is to use the aggregated data the system provides to create long-term best practice strategies to enhance the preparedness for any future disruptions that can directly affect hospital operations. By implementing a centralized reporting tool leveraging advanced predictive analytics with AI, health leaders have access to real-time data sets that can be converted into actionable insights based on fact-based queries to identify trends.
It is crucial for health leaders to not only be able to respond to change and challenges rapidly, but also anticipate them. As medical stockpiles are replenished over time, and vaccines become available, it will be crucial for healthcare facilities to monitor and adjust their inventory management systems to match their patient's and staff's needs. Fortunately, utilizing these dynamic functions, technology is up to the task of enhancing safety in these uncertain and changing conditions.
Heather Annolino, RN, MBA, CPHRM, is the Senior Director of Healthcare Practice at Ventiv, where she plays an integral part in developing Ventiv’s Patient Safety solutions. Visit Ventiv Tech.
