NSMC, which purchased the solution in June, plans to utilize the system in 12 operating rooms in two facilities — Salem Hospital and Union Hospital. The implementation is part of what Hulse calls “a fairly intensive operations improvement effort” aimed at streamlining the inventory management process while improving patient safety.

When it became clear that moving toward that goal meant piloting a new, cutting-edge technology, Hulse and his team didn't back down.

“I would say we're somewhat selective in that we really take a careful look at a technology, but when we feel the benefit is there, we are early adopters,” he says. Hulse attributes North Shore's willingness to try new technologies to its membership in the Partners HealthCare System. “The focus on technology to improve patient safety and quality of care is something that really helps us throughout the entire integrated delivery system, so it's as true at a community hospital like North Shore as it is at Mass General or Brigham and Women's Hospital,” he says.

Part of a bigger plan

While it seems to be earning high marks on its own, the sponge tracking system at North Shore and UCSF is just one part of a larger trend toward leveraging bar coding to more effectively track various types of medical equipment, supplies and tools. According to Bennan, UCSF has around 2,000 pieces of equipment tagged between the operating room and materials management, including anesthesia supplies and intubation tools.

The same holds true at North Shore, where bar coding has been deployed for patient ID bands as well as medication administration, and is being rolled out for tracking clinical laboratory samples. And there's more to come, says Hulse, as the medical center is looking to utilize RFID to track more expensive assets and equipment such as smart pumps.

“We eventually may look at it for patient and staff tracking. But for simple things like checking medications at the point of administration or sponge counts in the OR, the bar code technology seems to really work very well,” he says. “It's very tried and true. And from an infrastructure standpoint, it's less expensive than an RFID implementation.”

The sponge tracking system at UCSF was rolled out as a standalone application; however, the potential exists to tie it to other systems such as those used in supply chain management. “I think that as we start looking at these tracking technologies in general, they will absolutely be integrated,” Blum says.

One of the many bar coding technologies in place at UCSF is a system that tracks and manages blood samples. Logically, it is tied with the hospital's laboratory system. “It's on the floors and in the laboratory, and we're expanding that as we implement our new medical record to really facilitate workflow and the matching of patients and specimens, easing the burden in the laboratory,” Blum says. According to Blum, UCSF is currently rolling out GE Centricity's EMR, and is deploying provider order entry, a new pharmacy system and clinical decision support within the next year.

At North Shore, the sponge management system doesn't currently speak to any other systems, but Hulse says he'd like to integrate it with other applications to run tracking and analysis on all disposable surgical items. “Once we get to that point, then we would certainly like to interface for the materials management inventory tracking piece, as well as from a cost management piece,” he says.

But in the meantime, North Shore is focusing on completing the roll-out of the sponge system, which Hulse considers to be a “straight-forward” application that is both cost-effective and relatively hands-off for the executive team. And most importantly, Hulse says he believes that it will deliver the outcome North Shore's staff is looking for.

“We're very confident that it will absolutely improve our results,” he says. “And obviously, at the end of the day, it really is all about improving patient safety.”