Data-driven Instrument Tray Optimization Yields Significant Cost Savings and Efficiency Gains

ABSTRACT Corneal injury is a known risk for deployed troops worldwide. To the authors’ knowledge, there has been no reported use of gamma-irradiated corneas in the setting of severe corneal trauma. Our report highlights the case of a 36-year-old active duty solider who sustained bilateral penetrating ocular trauma from a nearby ordnance explosion. We propose that ocular surgeons should consider utilizing gamma-irradiated corneas in (1) a situation where the corneal tissue is so damaged that it would be challenging to accomplish an adequate repair while providing the opportunity for future visual rehabilitation and (2) remote and/or deployed environments where storage of fresh donor tissue is limited. The long shelf life of gamma-irradiated corneas reduces the need for specialized storage equipment and the need for continuous resupply, both potentially leading to significant cost savings for the Military Health System.

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Implementation of a Radiology Utilization Dashboard Yields Significant Cost Savings in a Large Primary Care Network

Journal of the American College of Radiology ◽

10.1016/j.jacr.2021.02.015 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adrian Clark-Randall ◽

David J. Halpern ◽

Janice Taylor ◽

Christopher J. Roth ◽

Rajan T. Gupta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Significant Cost ◽

Care Network ◽

Large Primary

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The Value of Clinical Teachers for EMR Implementations and Conversions

Applied Clinical Informatics ◽

10.4338/aci-2014-09-ie-0075 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 06 (01) ◽

pp. 75-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

J.L. Pantaleoni ◽

C.A. Longhurst ◽

L.A. Stevens

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Training Program ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Learner Satisfaction ◽

Physician Training ◽

Significant Cost ◽

Clinical Teachers ◽

Essential Aspect ◽

Satisfaction Rates ◽

High Learner

SummaryEffective physician training is an essential aspect of EMR implementation. However, it can be challenging to find instructors who can present the material in a clinically relevant manner. The authors describe a unique physician-training program, utilizing medical students as course instructors. This approach resulted in high learner satisfaction rates and provided significant cost-savings compared to alternative options.Citation: Stevens LA, Pantaleoni JL, Longhurst CA. The value of clinical teachers for EMR implementations and conversions. Appl Clin Inf 2015; 6: 75–79http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2014-09-IE-0075

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Surgical instrumentation: the true cost of instrument trays and a potential strategy for optimization

Journal of Hospital Administration ◽

10.5430/jha.v4n6p82 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (6) ◽

pp. 82 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Julie M. Mhlaba ◽

Emily W. Stockert ◽

Martin Coronel ◽

Alexander J. Langerman

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Cost Effective ◽

The United States ◽

Waste Reduction ◽

Significant Cost ◽

Instrument Type ◽

Hospital Revenue ◽

Potential Strategy ◽

The Cost

Objective: Operating rooms (OR) generate a large portion of hospital revenue and waste. Consequently, improving efficiency and reducing waste is a high priority. Our objective was to quantify waste associated with opened but unused instruments from trays and to compare this with the cost of individually wrapping instruments.Methods: Data was collected from June to November of 2013 in a 550-bed hospital in the United States. We recorded the instrument usage of two commonly-used trays for ten cases each. The time to decontaminate and reassemble instrument trays and peel packs was measured, and the cost to reprocess one instrument was calculated.Results: Average utilization was 14% for the Plastic Soft Tissue Tray and 29% for the Major Laparotomy Tray. Of 98 instruments in the Plastics tray (n = 10), 0% was used in all cases observed and 59% were used in no observed cases. Of 110 instruments in the Major Tray (n = 10), 0% was used in all cases observed and 25% were used in no observed cases. Average cost to reprocess one instrument was $0.34-$0.47 in a tray and $0.81-$0.84 in a peel pack, or individually-wrapped instrument.Conclusions: We estimate that the cost of peel packing an instrument is roughly two times the cost of tray packing. Therefore, it becomes more cost effective from a processing standpoint to package an instrument in a peel pack when there is less than a 42%-56% probability of use depending on instrument type. This study demonstrates an opportunity for reorganization of instrument delivery that could result in a significant cost-savings and waste reduction.

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Progressive Collapse Approach Compared to the Traditional Temperature Screening on Structural Assessment of Offshore Structures Against Fire

Volume 3: Structures, Safety and Reliability ◽

10.1115/omae2016-54923 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Paula T. Nascimento ◽

Marco A. P. Rosas ◽

Leonardo Brandão ◽

Fernando Castanheira

Keyword(s):

Traditional Approach ◽

Progressive Collapse ◽

Screening Method ◽

Substantial Reduction ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Offshore Structures ◽

Significant Cost ◽

Fire Scenarios

The present study compares the progressive collapse approach with the traditional temperature screening method on determination of PFP requirements at topside offshore structures. The advantage to evaluate the consequences of fire scenarios on the global integrity and stability of topside modules can be revealed by a substantial reduction of the required amount of PFP, and consequently significant cost savings for operators, when compared to the traditional approach. In the case study presented in this paper, there is a reduction of 79% in PFP allocation.

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Open Source Digitally Replicable Lab-Grade Scales

10.20944/preprints202004.0472.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin R. Hubbard ◽

Joshua M. Pearce

Keyword(s):

Open Source ◽

Low Cost ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Load Cell ◽

Significant Cost ◽

Load Cells ◽

The Cost ◽

Cell Data ◽

Precision Balance ◽

Multiple Load

This study provides designs for a low-cost, easily replicable open source lab-grade digital scale that can be used as a precision balance. The design is such that it can be manufactured for use in most labs throughout the world with open source RepRap-class material extrusion-based 3-D printers for the mechanical components and readily available open source electronics including the Arduino Nano. Several versions of the design were fabricated and tested for precision and accuracy for a range of load cells. The results showed the open source scale was found to be repeatable within 0.1g with multiple load cells, with even better precision (0.01g) depending on load cell range and style. The scale tracks linearly with proprietary lab-grade scales, meeting the performance specified in the load cell data sheets, indicating that it is accurate across the range of the load cell installed. The smallest loadcell tested(100g) offers precision on the order of a commercial digital mass balance. The scale can be produced at significant cost savings compared to scales of comparable range and precision when serial capability is present. The cost savings increase significantly as the range of the scale increases and are particularly well-suited for resource-constrained medical and scientific facilities.

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Timely Tracheobronchial Stenting Provides Significant Cost-Savings In Malignant Central Airway Obstruction

Journal of Surgical Research ◽

10.1016/j.jss.2010.11.285 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 165 (2) ◽

pp. 330

Author(s):

K. Park ◽

S.S. Razi ◽

G. Schwartz ◽

S. Belsley ◽

G. Todd ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Airway Obstruction ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Significant Cost ◽

Central Airway Obstruction ◽

Central Airway

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Simulation und Optimierung kombiniert/A simulation-based framework for operational optimization of industrial energy systems

wt Werkstattstechnik online ◽

10.37544/1436-4980-2020-01-02-14 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 110 (01-02) ◽

pp. 12-17

Author(s):

Niklas Panten ◽

Heiko Ranzau ◽

Thomas Kohne ◽

Daniel Moog ◽

Eberhard Abele ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Synthetic Data ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Energy Systems ◽

Decisive Role ◽

Optimization Methods ◽

Energy System ◽

Significant Cost ◽

Operational Optimization ◽

Simulation Based ◽

Industrial Energy

Die optimierte Betriebsweise von industriellen Energiesystemen ist eine Schlüsseltechnologie, um signifikante Kosteneinsparpotenziale durch Steigerung der Energieeffizienz und -flexibilität zu heben. Weil dabei eine Vielzahl dynamischer und stochastischer Einflüsse berücksichtigt werden müssen, spielt die Simulation des Energiesystems eine entscheidende Rolle. Zur Evaluierung unterschiedlicher Betriebsoptimierungsverfahren wird ein simulationsgestütztes Framework vorgestellt, welches bei KI (Künstliche Intelligenz)-Algorithmen unter anderem für das Anlernen mit synthetischen Daten verwendet werden kann.   The optimized operation of industrial energy systems is a key technology to unlock significant cost savings by increasing energy efficiency and flexibility. Since a variety of dynamic and stochastic influences must be considered, the simulation of the energy system plays a decisive role. A simulation-based framework is presented for evaluating various operational optimization methods, which can also be used for learning based on synthetic data with AI (artificial intelligence) algorithms.

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