Improving Infusion Therapy
In most hospitals, annual net profits are decreasing as budget constraints increase. But the savings potential for product- and personnel costs has been exhausted. Hospital managers have to move in new directions to improve efficiency. B. Braun offers access to this potential with a joint effort to optimize processes.
Along the Value Chain
It takes profound analysis to optimize processes. Because even small changes can help to reduce major risks. In a constructive dialog with everyone involved, we carefully analyze each process and establish optimized systems that improve safety, reduce costs, free up resources and lead to better patient outcomes. Sharing expertise is thus fundamental to improving all the dimensions of care, from the economic to the human.
Identifying potential
As an example, the graphic shows the results of our collaboration with one of our partner hospitals, a maximum-care, 1,000 bedfacility. Its purchasing department shifted away from conventional medical devices to B. Braun safety products for non-hazardous drug preparation processes. At first glance, the costs seem to rise, due to a higher initial product investment. However, introducing safety products into processes helped to increase an overall level of efficiency and reduce the process cost, since less steps and time is required for a process performance. At the same time, there are several risks that might happen during the drug preparation process and it might lead to some serious financial consequences for the hospital. Therefore, by preventing those risks with safety products and reducing associated expenses (investigation, additional treatment, prolonged length of patient’s stay etc.), total costs declined to a much greater degree.
REFERENCES
All calculations were based on: Hospital data: number of beds, average salary of a nurse per year (Euro), number of non-hazardous drug preparations per year; Scientific evidence for example: Bertolini G, Confalonieri M, Rossi, Simini B, Gorini M, Corrado A. Cost of the COPD. Differences between intensive care unit and respiratory intermediate care unit. Res Med 2005,(99): 894-900; Gabriel J. Infusion therapy. Part two: Prevention and management of complications. Nurs Stand. 2008; 22(32): 41-8; Saia, M., et al., “Needlestick Injuries: Incidence and Cost in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain” (2010): 41-49; Gianino MM, Vallino A, Minniti D, Abbona F, Mineccia C, Silvaplana P, Zotti CM. A method to determine hospital costs associated with nosocomial infections (transl). Ann Ig., 2007;19(4): 381-92; Fisman DN, Harris AD, Sorock GS, Mittleman MA. Sharps-Related Injuries in Health Care Workers: A Case-Crossover Study. Am J Med. 2003;114(8):688-694