Sentara has a clinical supply team designed to ensure we protect our patients by ensuring we procure goods and services that adhere to their needs while also performing as designed and intended.
The expectation is that our vendor relationships will align with our clinical initiatives identified by our clinical leadership.
There are several mechanisms that this this team monitors for safety and security of our patients.
Recalls and Non-Conforming Goods
Areas of focus include
- Products that are defective, damaged and expired.
- Any product that does not work the way it should.
- Education deficit
- User error
Why we care
- Potential safety risk to patient's and employees
- Delay processes
- Waste of time and/or resources
Benefits
- Meets our regulatory Requirement
- Document and track non-conforming products
- One streamlined familiar system
- Utilized by all Sentara hospitals
- Track vendors with substandard products
- Recalls come from variety of systems/agencies but includes: FDA, USDA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Consumer Products Safety Commission
Sentara Safety Culture
- Always keep you safe
- Protecting patients and staff
- Managing recalls is an important part of the Sentara Safety Culture.
- Sentara uses the Sentara Tracking Actions & reporting System (STARS) to track product issues regardless of type.
- Sentara has a centralized recall management process using a web-based tracking system called RASMAZ
- Sometimes a recall is due to an unexpected outcome while using the product...
- Compliance with regulatory agencies
Value Analysis
This is a systematic process to review clinical products, equipment and technologies to evaluate their clinical efficacy, safety and impact on organizational resources (Vizient 2016). According to AVAP (2016) value analysis is recognized as an essential component of the delivery of healthcare. Supplies and services are expanding and by some estimates will overtake labor as the biggest expense component in just a few years (Vizient 2016).
Sentara's Value Analysis Teams include:
- ED
- Respiratory
- SSC (Nursing)
- Vascular
- SPD
- Cardiac
- EVS
- Wound (inpatient)
- Wound (outpatient)
- Radiology
- Endoscopy
- Women's Health
Goals & Outcomes
- Quality product/Evidence
- Cost effective
- Standardization
- "80% of time should be spent on evaluating cost, quality and outcomes rather than new products. If 20% or more of its time is spent evaluating new products, it is nothing more than a new product committee." Donatelli (2016)
Non-Catalog Purchases
What is a non-cat spend? It is an item purchased without using an approved item number. Why this is a concern:
- Vendor may not be in system
- May be a vendor without a contract, T's & C's, HIPAA.
- May violate a current contracts.
- Pricing may be incorrect.
- Catalog Numbers may be incorrect.
Why Reduce Non-Cat Spend:
- Non-cat purchases should only be a one-time purchase
- Proactively request approved item numbers for accessories and items that will need re-ordering.
- New products should go through Sentara's approval process (Medapproved)
- Most importantly, patient safety
Contact Us
Send us an email. 824 N. Military Highway, Suite 210, Norfolk, VA 23502.