Best practice patient safety and traceability of infant feeds at CHI (Children’s Health Ireland) at Temple Street

Key Results

Increased patient safety through traceability and compliance

Time and paper savings

The Problem

The SFU needs to track the ingredients used to prepare up to 400 infant feeds daily and track those feeds to individual patients. The paper-based traceability system was cumbersome, time consuming and prone to error.

The Solution

The SFU scan all goods received and apply individual serialized barcoded labels to the products at ‘Goods-In’. Although this requires additional resources for the ‘Goods-In’ process, it greatly reduces the time required at subsequent processes.

They now operate ‘single-scan’ movements of feeds rather than numerous paper-based records.

The Benefits

• Electronic batch recall now possible
• Huge paper savings
• Staff engagement
• Patient safety benefits
• Reports/Audits at the touch of a button
• The estimated time savings are 0.5FTE for Dispatch/Stores & time saving for Daily freezer stock count
• Additional unexpected benefits (HACCP forms and process improvements)
• Widespread interest both internally and from other hospitals