Many Perioperative departments have told us that their recent visits by The Joint Commission (TJC) included a more in-depth review of their tissue implant logs. A number of Perioperative administrators and nurses agreed that during their last visit from TJC they wanted to see a higher level of documentation when it comes to tracking tissue and related specimens within the hospital.
One requirement that multiple nurses have said was under additional scrutiny was the ability to track tissue starting at the receiving dock of the hospital. Traditionally, hospitals have begun tracking their tissue starting at the receiving department within Periop. However, TJC is starting to look for detailed documentation of tissue receipt and packaging details starting at the hospital dock. Given that hospitals have historically started tracking tissue upon receipt in the department, they now must adjust their processes to meet this new standard.
The main challenge with beginning tissue log records at the receiving dock is that shipping department employees are often limited in their time and tissue data is not their primary focus. Because of this, getting shipping department employees at the dock to begin the extremely detailed tissue log with their limited time has proven to be a challenge Hospitals using paper tissue logs are especially at risk of poor practices due to the requirement of paper records traveling from the dock to the Periop department in a reliable manner. Hospitals need to graduate from paper logs in an effort to document the many details required to keep an accurate and compliant tissue log
One possible solution to this emerging problem is iRISecure from Mobile Aspects. iRISecure takes advantage of patented RFID-based workflows to minimize any data input requirements from staff and to make sure that compliance is a no-brainer. To solve the problem of having shipping employees enter critical information at the dock, iRISecure includes a simple computer interface to create a record of tissue receipt that then travels electronically with the tissue until it is used on a patient. The tissue inventory manager then associates the remaining product information to an RFID tag affixed to the tissue. From there, iRISecure ensures that all tissue transactions are recorded and traced to the correct patients without any manual data entry from nurses or techs. When TJC comes and requests to see your tissue logs, they are brought up at the touch of a button and quickly satisfy the TJC auditors – as our customers have recently attested.
In addition, iRISecure is a full inventory management system that helps tissue managers run lean tissue operations using real-time data and analytics coming out of the system. iRISecure can recommend the ideal stocking levels for inventory based on actual usage data coming out of the system. The system can also simplify the expiration tracking process by delivering expiration warnings straight to your inbox. The savings from running a leaner tissue practice can pay for the system (and then some).
If your operating room administrator or tissue manager is worried about the quality of their tissue documentation, iRISecure is definitely worth a look. The best-of-breed technology separates itself from the pack by making TJC compliance for tissue documentation as simple as possible using RFID technology. Manual data entry at the dock and in Periop and countless hours spent searching for missing data will be a thing of the past, and reporting and data analytics coming out of the software will help you continuously improve your tissue operations.