Role of Doctors and Nurses in Material Management of Medical Wear
Ms. Neha Mulchandani1
INTRODUCTION
In healthcare institutions like hospitals, material management
plays a vital role for effective and efficient functioning
considering the diversity of materials used for patient care.
Material
Management
Store & Maintenance
Planning Purchasing
Inventory
The resources in hospitals include large number of materials like
medicines, food products, medical wear, instruments and
medical-hospital supplies. Among all these, medical wear has a
major place in material management.
Medical Wear
General Patient
Patient Specific
Management
Sheets, Sponges, Underpads, Adult &
Patient Gowns Children Diapers, Wipes
It is clear that hospitals give importance to health and human
resources. Medical wear is vital for the safety of patients and
healthcare personnel in the hospitals because they cannot avoid
their uses while in hospital. Therefore, efficient and effective
management of material resources in health institutions needs to
be aligned with the issues of care. Effective controls need to be
adopted to ensure the availability of such resources with quality,
timing, quantity and fair price
. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the study were
.
1. To assess the management of surgical wear in hospitals
2. To highlight the importance of material management systems
specifically surgical wear in hospitals.
3.To study the role of doctors in management policies especially
the selection of surgical wear.
METHODOLOGY
The study was carried out in three private hospitals in Mumbai. A
detailed review was undertaken to assess the management of
medical wear and its importance in healthcare institutions.
Further, to address research objectives, emperical data was
combined from
a) Analyzing literature, reports and standards
a) Interviewing healthcare professionals, Central Sterile Supply
Department facility in charge, Waste management personnel,
purchase heads of three hospitals in Mumbai.
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2015
www.PosterPresentations.com
and Dr. Vishaka Karnad2
1 Doctoral Research Scholar and Assistant Professor (neham.84@gmail.com) and
2 Research Guide and Assistant Professor (vishakakarnad@gmail.com)
Department of Textile and Fashion Technology, College of Home Science,
Nirmala Niketan, 49, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400020
RESULTS • All hospitals surveyed were found to use sterilization process
The literature was reviewed, departments were observed and monitoring devices like physical and biological indicators.
view from hospital authorities were sought to assess the process • The findings of the survey also indicate that the doctors and
of Material Management of medical wear. nurses were involved in important decision making like
selection of medical wear to know their viewpoints on
comfort, quality, durability and design and in strategic
management decision making of medical products. They
contributed in resource planning, allocation and
standardization policies.
Issue of Accounting
Materials & Disposal CONCLUSIONS
Doctors and nurses contribute to better management while
ensuring quality patient care as they are the users and
recommenders of many products. The management of hospitals
works best when these medical personnel are involved in
Personal protective equipment in OT Disposable gown Reusable Gown
decisions of resource allocation and purchasing of products for
Soiled
Disposable the provision of patient care. Doctors have the ultimate clinical
linen(Reusable)
products responsibility for patient care and add essential expertise to the
Collection
Wards, emergencies Wards, emergencies management of hospitals, not only regarding clinical issues but
and OPD’s/OT’s and OPD’s/OT’s
/Support engineering /Support engineering also about strategic budgeting and resource allocation issues.
areas areas
Being involved in the management of budgets allows doctors to
Collection of contribute to better decision-making regarding the use of
Collection
soiled linen
resources.
Procedure In this context, it was found that in the three hospitals doctors and
Sluicing/
Specific Sorting & Disposal nurses were consulted for various issues for better management,
Weighing
Wraps, Surgical Gowns,
Drapes, Tables Covers, Face their expertise and inputs were valued and through their help, the
Masks, Head Covers, Shoes
Washing, hydro
extraction and
healthcare institutions could identify opportunities for quality
drying improvement.
Sterilization
BEST PRACTICES AND KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Decision making should be on "shared authority" model based
Inspection and
storage
on increasing collaboration between administrators and
doctors and nurses.
Issuance/ 2. Centralized processing of medical wear
Disposal
3. Trained staff to process and manage medical wear
Material Flow of Disposable and Reusable Medical Wear
4. Written policies and standards for their procurement, use,
maintenance and disposal
• During the use and at the end-of-life stage, surgical wastes 5. Quality monitoring
(blood, tissue, fluid) are produced for both disposable and
6. Validation of cleanliness, sterility and function of the
reusable gowns and drapes. The surgical waste and disposable
reprocessed products
gowns are either sent to landfills or incinerated. Currently,
landfill is the dominant route for disposables. 7. Decisions related to managing medical wear should be made
by a multi-disciplinary committee that includes the individuals
• Reusable gowns on the other hand demonstrate different
responsible for purchasing medical wear, maintaining medical
management process over disposable medical wear. They are
wear, infection prevention and control, occupational health and
sorted and weighed after which they are sent to laundry. The
safety and the medical professionals of the medical wear.
three hospitals were found to outsource the laundry services.
• A comprehensive maintenance and laundering instruction REFERENCES
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