Information systems support for OR product standardization.

A critical reason why many healthcare institutions cannot effectively standardize OR products is that they cannot access necessary information. An OR information system that manages, tracks and generates documentation on OR inventory is an important answer to implementing change. At least four key areas any information system should address in order to make standardization a reality are 1) clinical preference, 2) supplying a changing case mix, 3) product usage data and 4) vendor performance. OR information systems operate on various hardware platforms. Users have more software choices than ever before, because connectivity issues have been effectively solved through the development of standard electronic transaction sets.