About

Starting Semester: Fall 2024
Assigned: Yes
Location: Decatur

Emory Healthcare

Client Profile

The physicians, nurses, leaders, and staff at Emory Healthcare are proud to care for the health and well-being of members of the Atlanta community, the state of Georgia, and beyond. As part of Emory University, we are the most comprehensive academic health system in Georgia, dedicated to innovating medicine, teaching the caregivers of the future, and supporting the healthcare needs of our patients. We are made up of 11 hospitals, the Emory Clinic and more than 490 provider locations.



The Emory Healthcare Network, established in 2011, is the largest clinically integrated network in Georgia, with more than 3,450 physicians concentrating in 70 different subspecialties. Our core purpose is to improve lives and provide hope by delivering exceptional care to our patients, their families and the communities we serve. It is our privilege to serve you!

Project Description

"Emory Long Term Acute Care Hospital specializes in the care of medically complex patients who have severe wounds and/or require ventilator intervention, and may be described as chronically/ critically ill. An average patient will stay at our hospital for around 30 days, and will require many different specialty supplies during their admission. Upon discharge, excess supplies left in the room are disposed of resulting in a financial loss from unused items as well as the environmental impact related to excess waste being added to the landfills. Post-pandemic supply chain volatility has disrupted procurement processes, resulting in extra-processing to obtain needed items, and zero-sum conditions.



LTAC patients are accommodated in single-patient rooms for infection prevention best practices. Standard work is not in place for setup of supplies within rooms. Currently, supplies are stocked to centrally located supply rooms by the materials management team. Also due to isolation practices, staff often grab what they need without checking rooms first. Patients who have wounds require additional supplies. Supplies are single- patient issue, and unused portions of supplies cannot be redistributed due to infection prevention practices. Once a supply crosses the threshold of the room, it will be dedicated to that patient whether or not it gets used. Additionally, supply charge capture practices have recently changed, need reinforcement, and could be simplified by standardization.



Emory Long Term Acute Care would like to have a project team evaluate the current process to understand the financial and environmental impact of the wasted supplies. After assessing the current situation, we would like to have recommendations on changes that could be made to the method for distributing and stocking patient supplies with the intent of reducing the cost of wasted supplies, and environment concerns."

Skills

Materials Distribution
Inventory Planning
Workspace Layouts & Updates
Financial Analysis