Bringing OR throughput up to speed

The TAGNOS OR workflow solution aggregates and analyzes data to provide real-time insights to AHWM hospital.

Image courtesy of Zebra Technologies

Adventist Health White Memorial (AHWM) is a 353-bed, not-for-profit, faith-based teaching hospital that provides a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency, stroke care and diagnostic services to communities in and near downtown Los Angeles. 

Services include cardiac and vascular care, intensive and general medical care, oncology, orthopedic care, rehabilitation, specialized and general surgery, and women’s and children’s services.

Knowing that communication is vital to any successful organization, AHWM sought a new system to help improve its operating room (OR) turnaround times by improving communication between clinical and nonclinical staff. 

According to a study on operation management published in Miller’s Anesthesia, Seventh Edition, ORs account for approximately 40% of a hospital’s expenses and up to 70% of its revenues.

AHWM sought a solution to ensure that its ORs and other procedural areas were safely and quickly processed to eliminate long wait times that could cause patient delays, as well as financial and operational strains on the entire surgical department. It chose the integrated TAGNOS-Zebra solution to strengthen communication and collaboration between nursing staff and environmental services (EVS) staff to quickly and efficiently prepare ORs for waiting patients and reduce costs.

TAGNOS, Alisa Viejo, Calif., is a developer of clinical logistics automation software for hospital operations, and Zebra Technologies, Lincolnshire, Ill., is an innovator at delivering industry-tailored, end-to-end solutions that intelligently connect people, assets and data to help customers make business-critical decisions. TAGNOS is a registered Independent Software Vendor in Zebra’s PartnerConnect channel program.

“Health care organizations require data connectivity, communications and real-time information at the edge to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time,” says Chris Sullivan, global health care practice lead at Zebra Technologies.

The patented TAGNOS OR workflow solution aggregates and analyzes the hospital’s data from radio frequency identification tags on patient wristbands, as well as information from a variety of hospital systems, to provide real-time insights into the patient’s journey through the surgical suite.

These insights are then communicated to AHWM’s care and support team via the TAGNOS app on Zebra’s Android-based TC51-HC enterprise-class mobile computer to more effectively coordinate scheduled surgery times and enable collaborative workflows for faster care delivery and improved patient satisfaction.

“The TAGNOS-Zebra workflow optimization solution has fostered a higher level of teamwork since ambiguity has been removed and everyone can visually see how their tasks are interrelated,” says Randy Saad, director of perioperative services at AHWM. “Since we implemented the solution, we have reduced EVS response times to operating rooms by 41%, enabling us to significantly improve our operational efficiency and reduce costs while seeing more patients.”

The computerized system has eliminated many of the flaws associated with outdated manual communication. Instead of ambiguous information sharing that can create a domino-like effect in slowing the turnaround process, everyone related to the surgical process — including anesthesia teams, charge and floor nurses, and EVS staff — all have greater insight. This allows everyone to more effectively play their roles in efficient OR room turnover and on-time starts, leading to decreased wait times and increased patient satisfaction.

Since using the joint workflow optimization solution, the hospital says it has improved OR turnaround time by approximately 10%.

“The aggregated data delivered by TAGNOS and communicated via the Zebra TC51-HC mobile computer provides a powerful tool for care teams to get the alerts and messages they need at the right time to enable streamlined workflows,” explains Neeraj Bhavani, who is CEO of TAGNOS.