While your value analysis team relies on Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) to protect the budget, have you considered the impact these relationships can have on clinical outcomes? By providing the best possible care at the lowest price, you’ll help ensure your facility is positioned to provide care for the long term.
GPOs are a great tool to help your facility find cost savings. Capstone Health Alliance aggregates purchasing for over 115 health systems primarily in Southeastern U.S., allowing members to reach higher tiers on Premier contracts. The added purchasing power can have a significant impact. For instance, new Capstone healthcare members found a 7:1 return on investment in 20211.
Related: GPO Rebates – Rely on Some Help From Your Friends
Medical Labels
Labels play an understated role in clinical outcomes. Often overlooked because everyone uses them, labels are critical in helping your team communicate effectively. If clinicians can’t read patient charts, there is lost time diagnosing conditions and delays in administering care. If your blood tube or specimen cup labels fall off, the lab can’t process your samples. You’ll have to draw them again.
In addition to the quality of your labels, it’s important to have a reliable supply. At Caresfield, our labels are made in the U.S. We offer same-day shipping on in-stock orders placed by 2 p.m. Central and many of our GPO contracts include free freight. If you really want to geek out over labels, check out our CaresTalk Webinar: The Inside Story of U.S.-Made Labels on YouTube.
Related: Caresfield Labels – Convert and Save Money
Patient ID Bracelets
Almost as frequently used as labels, patient ID bracelets also play a key role in delivering positive clinical outcomes. Once again, communication is crucial. Whether it’s being able to read or scan an ID bracelet to confirm identity, each patient’s ID bracelet helps ensure they receive the proper care and medication.
If you work in a hospital, you must be able to read the wristband to confirm the patient’s name and medical record number. Failure to meet Joint Commission standards to properly identify your patients could have serious consequences, including incompatible blood transfusion reactions, failure to treat a serious illness or disease or medical treatment for erroneous diagnostic lab results2.
Related: Three Steps to Find the Right Identification Bands for Your Facility
You may not be responsible for putting patient ID bracelets on patients, but you can recommend options to your value analysis team that could help drive positive clinical outcomes.
Phlebotomy Tourniquets
One of the best ways you can use Capstone healthcare to drive positive clinical outcomes is to use the best tourniquets for your patients. Choosing the right size, color and texture phlebotomy tourniquets may help increase patient safety and satisfaction.
These factors can vary based on the types of patients you work with. If you are drawing blood in a delivery ward or neonatal intensive care unit, it’s important to have infant-sized tourniquets. If your team is using scissors to cut down standard tourniquets or using other workarounds, you could be exposing these precious little patients to infections. Similarly, if you are tying two tourniquets together to draw blood from bariatric patients, you could decrease patient safety and comfort.
You may not think the color of your tourniquet matters but look around your patient spaces. Most healthcare settings feature beige or drab colors. A beige tourniquet could blend right in. If the tourniquet was orange or another bright color, you may be less likely to leave it on a patient.
If you typically work with elderly patients or others with sensitive skin, a textured tourniquet may be the best choice. A textured tourniquet provides less friction, increasing patient comfort. It’s one of many specialty tools that may help ease the pressures of phlebotomy.
Making the Most of Capstone Healthcare
Capstone Healthcare membership gives you many tools to produce the best clinical outcomes. Caresfield is pleased to be the contracted supplier for labels, patient identification wristbands and phlebotomy tourniquets. We’ll be attending 2022 Capstone Forum Oct. 18-22 in Myrtle Beach, stop by to pick up free samples and chat about the challenges you face at work.
Sources
- 2021 Annual Report, Capstone Health Alliance, https://capstonehealthalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2021-Annual-Report.pdf, accessed Oct. 3, 2022.
- The Importance of Being Identified by the Patient Care Team with Two Forms of Identification, UTMB Health, https://www.utmb.edu/health-resource-center/partner-in-your-care-patient-safety/two-patient-identifiers-for-every-test-and-procedure, accessed Oct. 3, 2022.
