CME Insider's Blog Posts

More than two (2) acts of violence are committed each hour against nurses¹. That’s roughly 57 assaults a day.

What’s especially concerning is that this statistic does not include all healthcare professionals, nor does it capture unreported assaults chalked up to “part of the job”! Equally mind boggling is that the majority of these assaults are by patients. Patients, the same people healthcare workers solemnly pledge to help by making their health the first consideration.

While a bill called the Safer Hospitals Act (HB 3832)² recently passed the Georgia House, it is an after-the-fact penal solution that calls for 3-20 years prison time for assailants. Certainly a deterrent, but what about real-time intervention when caregivers need it most? “Nurses deserve to be protected and feel safe while caring for people in their most vulnerable state” says Dr. Jeff Doucette, Chief Nursing Officer, Press Ganey.¹

Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) can help create safer working environments.

When we hear about the mounting threat of Climate Change caused by Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) and Carbon Footprints many of us righteously point the finger at manufacturing and demand reform in the name of Sustainability. 

While finger pointing is always counterproductive, some vindication of the pointers may be in order. Let's pause a quick moment and consider how manufacturing may in fact affect the GHG attributed to other sectors and how taking the Climate Pledge can help improve climate resilience.

Take the healthcare sector for example, only 8.5%¹ of all GHG in the United States originates in this sector. 

But, of that 8.5%, 80% of healthcare attributed GHG are "indirect emissions from the production and transportation of goods and services procured by the health sector, such as those related to pharmaceuticals and other medical products and devices."¹

Why is that?

Current staffing shortages in healthcare have caused an increased spend on temporary help that has exploded budgets. In response, becoming more efficient and retaining and attracting staff are the primary focus for many, if not most, healthcare facilities in our post-pandemic world.

Choosing the right equipment can help with these goals. There are many products that not only increase efficiency by decreasing staff involvement but also make the clinical environment safer. In the long run, the right equipment can ultimately save money.

With the ongoing prevalence of heart disease and stroke in the American population, soaring supply and operating expenses, critically low staffing levels and inefficient processes, healthcare systems are clamoring for new and better ways to manage clinical care and its associated costs. These challenges not only negatively affect the bottom line, but limit access to patient data across the health network, making it harder to perform vital clinical activities. In response to this landscape, top organizations are simplifying their workflows with streamlined cardiology systems to provide clinicians with greater access to patient data and ultimately, more confident clinical decisions.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the United States generated 600 million tons of construction and demolition waste in 2018 (this is the most current data available) with approximately 180 million tons of that waste associated with building construction and demolition. Sadly, only 38% of this debris was recycled. These are mind-boggling numbers and many are looking for ways to reduce waste before it even gets to the project site.

CME has been working to decrease the amount of waste generated at a construction site for years.  Not only is it important from a green perspective but decreasing waste at a construction site also helps the healthcare facility streamline activities at the site and ultimately facilitates on-time construction schedules.  All of these factors are extremely important to healthcare facilities.  

Have you experienced the challenges associated with locating mobile patient monitoring or infusion equipment? Have you wanted to implement asset tracking technology (RFID) without the time or human resources to complete the task? Has your clinical engineering’s PM completion rate been artificially low or inaccurate because the team was “not servicing” items didn’t still exist on the inventory? Last year NYP’s IT Finance Department, who oversees various clinical technology teams, decided they needed an accurate inventory and a new asset tag that would allow for technology infrastructure upgrades. With nine campuses and over 130,000 recorded assets, the various teams did not have the internal hours necessary to complete the job without interruptions to operational maintenance. Being an equipment focused distributor with a heavy emphasis on related services, NYP called on CME to assist. Here are a few highlights of the project.

Covid-19 has been devastating to the healthcare supply chain in many ways. Past due payments, lack of visibility, and match exceptions proliferated during the pandemic. This experience has made all of us in the supply chain look at ways to improve going forward. One of the processes that has emerged for healthcare systems is the Procure-to-Pay model. The first step is to mine all of your processes including preparing the Purchase Order (PO), confirming the ship date, receiving the product, and invoicing. Then determine gaps, redundancies, inefficiencies, best practices, and possible automation all along the way. When correctly implemented the end result should be a reduction in operating costs, improved efficiencies, better alignment with your suppliers, and supply chain resiliency. Here are four ways CME Corp can help.

In the spring of 2022, CME Corp was awarded an $8.7M project from the prime contractor providing Initial, Outfitting and Transition (IO&T) services, to outfit 43 U.S. Army Wellness Centers (AWC) across the U.S. The project was large, complicated, with many moving parts. Some reasons CME won the bid was their vast experience in providing Direct-to-Site delivery services under adverse conditions and their ability to be nimble.

With many wall-mounted workstation options available today, how do facilities choose the right solution and implement successfully? Clinicians spend a large percentage of time on patient documentation, medication administration and care coordination. The right wall-mounted workstation helps caregivers simplify workflow, provides access to electronic medical records, and allows them to remain close to and interact directly with their patients.