SHORTCUT Our info doesn't change, so why write it all out 10 or 15 times a day?

THE WRITE STUFF
Stamp Out Wasted Time

Every surgery we do requires a lens implant, which means we have to send all pertinent information to the manufacturer — in case there's a recall. Of course the information about us never changes. It's only the info about the patient that's new each time. Still, every time we meticulously fill in all those little boxes on the form with our surgeon's name, our facility name and our address. That is, until we noticed another facility doing something ingenious. They'd had a stamp made to eliminate all that repetitive writing. I called our implant manufacturer and asked whether we could do the same thing. They said sure, as long as the info was clear and legible. What an improvement! It cost about $10 to have the stamp made, which is a pittance when you consider that it probably saves us a half-hour a day. We used to write out the same information over and over again, 10 or 15 times a day. Not anymore. Now we use a stamp, and boom, the task takes only a second or two.

Brooke Moats, RN
Wilmington (Ohio) Surgical Services
[email protected]