Conversation no longer in short supply at hospital

[unhappycamper]

Conversation no longer in short supply at hospital
By Matt Millham, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, December 10, 2007

The U.S. Army hospital in Heidelberg expects to save some $250,000 over the next two years simply by asking its employees to talk to one another.

The decision to inject conversation into a relatively mundane supply procedure is being touted as a simple solution to a problem caused, at least in part, by relying on technology.

For years the hospital’s surgical staff has used a computer system to order supplies. Someone would put an order in through the computer and sooner or later they’d get their goods.

The problem was that different people in the section didn’t always know when something was on its way, and frequently ordered another batch of the same thing. When double or triple orders came in, excess supplies sat around, went bad and had to be thrown out.

The problem persisted even though the supply office that processed the surgery section’s orders was in the same building a couple floors down.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50869



uhc comment: I'm continually amazed at how backward military computer systems are.