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Taking Steps to Control Costs in the OR
Author(s) -
Hoeksema Janice
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/j.aorn.2010.04.020
Subject(s) - scrutiny , business , purchasing , product (mathematics) , value based purchasing , health care , limiting , quality (philosophy) , operations management , cost control , control (management) , risk analysis (engineering) , marketing , economics , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , management , epistemology , political science , law , economic growth
Hospitals continue to be challenged by rising expenses in an environment of moderate reimbursements. Health care costs have increasingly come under scrutiny and, with the advent of health care reform, will continue to be scrutinized. Perioperative nurses play a key role in evaluating product safety, effectiveness and efficiency, environmental concerns, and cost and how these factors affect patient care. Cost‐saving opportunities that a hospital product evaluation committee can consider include choosing less expensive but equivalent supplies, comparing the expenses associated with disposable versus reusable products, limiting the use of custom supplies, determining ways to reduce linen use, and changing practices to eliminate products that are found to have little clinical value. Adopting effective product evaluation and purchasing practices can lead to reduced costs without affecting the quality of patient care.