That's why you should consider allocating some portion of your capital
equipment budget to adding innovative technologies. Figure out a cost
model that lets you try out new devices and evaluate their utility proper-
ly in a real-world clinical setting. We won't know the true value of new
devices, and what benefit they will bring to surgery, if facilities don't give
them chances to make a real difference in the care we provide.
I'm not advocating for your facility to finance the first chance for
every new piece of technology your surgeons want to add, but there
are economically responsible ways to help advance innovation.
There's also a potential and often overlooked return on investment
you'll realize by taking a chance on investing in groundbreaking tech-
nology. If it works and takes hold, your facility will be viewed as
trend-setting among surgeons who will want to bring their cases to
your ORs and patients who will want to have their procedures done
where the cutting edge of care happens. You'll run a facility that
moves the needle of surgical innovation. That's a great position to be
in and a great reputation to have.
Team-led adoption
Make sure your surgical team is comfortable with new technologies
you bring online. If circulating nurses and scrub techs are experts at
using a device, surgeons will be more accepting of it. Learning how to
properly handle new devices increases patient safety. You can also save
your facility millions of dollars in repair and replacement costs simply
by ensuring your surgeons and staff know how to properly handle
equipment and clean, reprocess and store it correctly between uses.
Circulators and scrub techs are facing an increasing burden to mas-
ter instrumentation that is growing in complexity, so they must be
given time to become familiar with how new tools work. Well known
innovative companies let employees spend on-the-clock hours trying
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