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T E C H N O L O G Y
person. It was a big mess."
Now, thanks to ordering software, all faxes go to 1 number, and 1
number only, and they're all stored as scans in a computerized queue.
"So we can print them out or just look at them on the screen," says
Ms. Killen. "If we do print something out and it gets lost, we can just
print it out again. It's like a gatekeeper for all faxes that come into the
facility."
That's a nice break for people sending the faxes, too. "We no longer
hear: 'I already faxed it once' or 'How many places do I have to fax it
to?'" says Ms. Killen. "And if a fax isn't in the queue, we know it hasn't
come in, so we don't waste time looking for it."
5. Inventory
You'd expect to save time when you automate tasks that used to be
done by hand, but you may find unexpected benefits, too. For Glee
Myers, GI/CS tech, inventory, at the Wamego Health Center in
Wamego, Kan., there were additional pleasant surprises when the center automated its inventory process via Horizon Medical International.
"The system flags me if any item is unavailable," she says. "There was
no way to know that before. And it's also opened my eyes to what's out
there in terms of other products. Sometimes I see things online that are
more suitable to our needs — things I would not have known about otherwise."
Ms. Myers recalls having to fill everything out by hand — a chore
that normally took well over an hour to complete. And now? "Now I
can order everything we need in 10 minutes and have it within 24
hours," she says. OSM
E-mail jburger@outpatientsurgery.net.
D E C E M B E R 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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