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What used to take 15.5 hours with 42 staff now requires only 33 people in just 6.5 hours.
The Parkway Inventory Management System (PIMS) is one of the many productivity initiatives that Mount Elizabeth Hospital displayed at their inaugural Hospital Improvement and Productivity (HIP) Day on 30 September 2016.
Previously, staff had to manually record items used in surgeries. They also had to sort out the list of items and keep track of them at many storage locations. There was also the additional step of keying each item into the system. This process was time-consuming, labour-intensive and prone to errors.
Now armed with a mobile device, staff only have to scan barcodes of items used and PIMS automatically sorts out the data which is then saved directly to the system. This cuts out many steps and saves as much as 4,640 man-hours a year, a 48.5 per cent reduction from the previous process, which took 8,700 man-hours a year.
Drive for Productivity
Based on the Ministry of Health’s projections, Singapore’s healthcare industry will require 50 per cent – or 20,000 more healthcare professionals between 2011 and 2020 to continue meeting the healthcare needs of Singaporeans.
To counter this, hospitals like Mount Elizabeth are becoming more manpower-lean and driving up productivity. These initiatives save plenty of man-hours, allowing staff to be deployed in other areas.
“The productivity journey is not always an easy one, but the irony of productivity improvements is that the best projects don’t always lie in solving a problem, but in seeing opportunities to make something that already works work even better,” said Mount Elizabeth Hospital CEO Phua Tien Beng.
To date, the hospital’s productivity projects have received over $160,000 in funding from SPRING Singapore and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute).
Tapping on IGP
Administered by e2i, the Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP) gives companies up to 50 per cent funding for projects that raise productivity, with any gains passed along to workers through wage increases.
Through the IGP, the hospital has implemented a new wireless temperature monitoring system.
Previously, various staff had to perform regular temperature checks twice a day and manually record them. This included nurses, who had to ensure essentials like medicine, milk-feeds and other food items were kept at defined temperature ranges fit for patient consumption.
For lab technicians, blood samples and serums have to be stored at specific temperatures; assistant technicians have to ensure temperatures are kept optimal for storage of cadavers. Medical images like x-ray and ultrasound scans have to undergo darkroom processing, where temperature control is essential.
Temperature monitoring required staff to temporarily leave their jobs to perform the task, which resulted in time wastage. Fluctuation in temperature in between recordings may also go unnoticed, which may leave items. These records also had to be stored, taking up limited space in the premises.
The hospital invested in TempTrak, a 24/7 remote temperature monitoring device? that negates the need for these twice-a-day temperature checks. The system automatically maintains temperatures at pre-defined ranges.
Records are also saved digitally and removes the chance for human error. The system will also send an SMS or email alert to a supervisor should any human intervention be required. The amount of time saved allows the hospital staff to focus on their core jobs at hand.
Under the IGP, 11 staff have enjoyed a wage increment of 8 per cent.
Manpower-Lean
The hospital’s use of technology complements the Ministry of Manpower’s goal of achieving a manpower-lean economy while remaining competitive.
Minister of State for Manpower Teo Ser Luck, who was present as guest-of-honour, said: “Singapore’s fast ageing population and chronic disease burden continues to place a high demand on healthcare services. With the projected need for human resources increasing, we will face a manpower shortage together with a smaller local workforce due to our ageing population.
“This is why we need to make effective and efficient use of our existing resources. The Government is committed to collaborating with industry partners to ensure that Singapore’s healthcare system remains sustainable while providing high quality care to all.”
Source: NTUC This Week
