Utilising tracking technology to reduce the financial and patient care impact of lost ear, nose and throat equipment.

Introduction: The effective treatment of a patient in a timely manner requires specialist equipment, including in ear, nose and throat (ENT) services, where orifices require careful inspection. Otoscopy, flexible nasendoscopy, peritonsillar abscess drainage and nasal cautery are all common practices and cannot be successfully completed without the necessary equipment. These tasks all require expensive equipment that can easily be misplaced in a busy hospital. A paucity of equipment can delay patient assessment and negatively impact treatment, as well as reduce clinician efficiency and effectiveness. Here, we investigate the impact of equipment loss, and discuss a cost-effective solution to the problem.

Methods: We surveyed ENT departments from 15 different trusts on how equipment loss impacted their patients, staff and their department financially. We also calculated the cost of equipment lost in our department over the course of a year. We subsequently placed trackers on our equipment and calculated the cost of lost equipment after 12 months.

Results: Of the 15 trusts surveyed, 13 responded. Our survey demonstrated the average cost of lost items to be more than £4,900 per department, with concurrent delays in treatment and a reduction in patient-facing time. No equipment was lost after the trackers were placed.

Conclusions: The use of commercially available tracking technology can help reduce the amount of time taken to locate equipment, prevent incurring higher costs and, most importantly, improve patient safety, with an estimated return on investment of more than 3000% and an increase in direct clinical care simultaneously.