State Regulations

I have learned that each department and type of care (intermediate, longterm, etc.) has many regulations> these are regulated by the state. One of the details I have learned that the faucets have to put out warm water that is around a certain temperature. The soiled linens need to go in a closed container. There are many more things that I have learned. If the hospital is found to have any of these violations then they may have to pay a fine or will be given time to fix the problems.

Directors and Some of their Duties.

The new director for plant maintenance has brought in a lot of new ideas as well as technology. He has shown me the intricate system he has set up in order to ensure that the hospital will have working power, gas, and heating and cooling. Before he had come a long the rooms were having a lot of trouble heating and cooling. However, he had ushered in new technology and systems that helped to fix the problems they were having. This taught me that technology can have a major role in fixing some of the issues. The director for Material Management has shown me a lot of the paperwork that goes through his department. All personnell that wants to buy something for the hospital has to go through the administrator first and then tell Ron what they are looking for and any special details along with it, such as, size, length, and compatibility with other equipment. These will then be followed up with purchase orders and invoices. This is so they can ensure the items came in and none were missing from the order.

What I have learned about Material Management. 

I have also been taught about capturing cost. These are interesting because the nursing are in charge of fulfilling this duty. The material management department will put stickers on any item that is used by a patient and can be reimbursed. The nurses will charge the patient if they use an item with a sticker on it. However, these items can go uncharged due to a nurse not knowing this is their duty or they forget to charge them at the end of their stay. This is where the term capturing cost comes in. They want to capture as much cost as possible so the hospital is not losing more money than what was already paid. Par levels are another thing I was taught in material management. These are the amount of an item that is stocked on each floor. For instance, they stock 10 saline solution bottles on floor number one of the Dogwood hall and they stock 15 bottles of saline solution on the second floor. This is because they want to give the staff enough bottles to get the nurses through the day but not too much supplies to where they take more than what is need.