Healthcare staff shortages, while not new, have spawned a world today where it can take five hours to get an X-ray for a dislocated elbow and another two to get pain medication for the injury. Ambulances sometimes wait eight hours to drop off a patient, and nurses work 12- to 16-hour shifts, without a break.

About 400,000 healthcare workers have left jobs since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to recent estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Throughout the pandemic, hospitals have had to implement creative approaches to soften staffing shortages. Medical device companies have also gotten innovative. Single-use endoscopes, for example, can help address staffing shortages.

They’re always available. And unlike traditional endoscopes, they don’t require extensive staffing — for preparation, transport, reprocessing, and often direct procedure support. They can be simply used once and discarded.

This dovetails with efforts by hospital administrators to alleviate workflow burdens on healthcare professionals.

These challenges and more were explored as part of a virtual session sponsored by Ambu during Becker’s Hospital Review’s 12^th Annual Meeting. We’re highlighting part of that conversation here in this episode of Endoscopy Insights.

Here are the experts you’ll hear from:

• Karen Conway, vice president, healthcare value, GHX
• Brian Howard, director, contract services, Vizient
• Karen Niven, director, performance groups, Premier
• India D. Randerson, vice president, strategic sourcing and procurement to payment, Henry Ford Health
• Steering the conversation is Wes Scruggs, Ambu’s vice president of corporate accounts

Show notes:

• Virtual Session: The Financial Case for Single-Use Endoscopy
• Becker’s Hospital Review: “Strategy: The Financial Case for Single-Use Endoscopy”
• Single-Use Endoscopy: “’Perfect Storm’ of Healthcare Worker Shortages Creates Need to Alleviate Workflow Burdens”
• Upcoming Becker’s virtual events
• Listen: “Calculating the Total Cost of Care”
• Listen: “Leading with Value to the Patient”
• Single-Use Endoscopy webinars page

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Endoscopy Insights is a podcast devoted to conversations with thought leaders in flexible and single-use endoscopy. In each episode we’ll explore the ways different clinical and technological innovations are moving the field of endoscopy forward.       

Endoscopy Insights is brought to you by Single-Use Endoscopy, part of the Ambu Learning Center. Ambu has been bringing healthcare solutions of the future to life since 1937.