How Leavenworth County EMS track medical equipment using Orca Scan

Christy Johnson, Paramedic Supervisor, and her team respond to an average of 13,000 emergencies annually across the 486 miles of Leavenworth County, Kansas. The team operate from five stations and has 14 emergency vehicles that need to be stocked with around 50 items, ranging from IVs, LUCAS machines, and prescription and lifesaving drugs.

They’ve implemented Orca Scan to digitalise their inventory, improve stock efficiency, and increase team accountability. Here’s how they did it 👇

The problem…

Leavenworth County EMS tracked inventory using pen and paper 🖊️ manually counting each item in the stock room to make stock requests.

Crew members were also required to take part in a monthly manual count of every product to check expiry dates 🗓️

Not only was this super time intensive ⌛ but the system also lacked consistency. With an increased risk of human error, this method often led to mistakes and a lack of essential stock when it mattered the most.

The system wasn’t working and required highly skilled people to spend vast amounts of time on administrative tasks rather than doing what they do best… saving people’s lives.

Things needed to change, and that’s when Christy found Orca Scan.

How has Orca Scan provided a solution?

Since implementation, Orca Scan has worked to simplify multiple processes to improve efficiency and accountability 👇

Vehicle inspection and equipment tracking 🚑

During each 24-hour shift, crew members must check that their vehicle has all the medical equipment and devices necessary to do the job.

Each truck has a unique barcode that, once scanned, opens the daily inspection Orca Sheet…

This includes checking the following:

• Medical supplies are stocked and in date, with an effort to ensure items that expire first are used first.
• The vehicle has the correct equipment.
• Batteries on essential machines, such as the LUCAS, are fully charged.
• The crew have the right fuel cards, radios and pagers.

Each of these steps requires items to be scanned. If the wrong item is scanned, a custom trigger informs a supervisor, and the crew member cannot complete the inspection until any errors are rectified.

The second check ensures the vehicle is road safe 👇

This includes checking the following:

• For any cosmetic damage to the vehicle
• The tyre pressure is correct
• The vehicle’s mileage
• Emergency lights and sirens are working correctly

Failing to perform these checks, or doing it incorrectly, can cost lives.

Medication tracking and inventory 💊

Every item in the main inventory has a unique barcode and is scanned, logged and tracked through Orca Scan. If a crew member requires any stock, the item is scanned out of the stock room, and the quantities in the sheet are automatically adjusted ✅

Email notification triggers have been included to notify Misty, the dedicated stock manager:

• When an item, or items, fall below a specified quantity
• When an item, or items, are approaching their expiry date

This process ensures that a constant supply of critical medication is available to all crew members.

Was the solution successful?

These solutions have improved accountability, as it’s no longer possible for crew members to misplace items without notifying a supervisor.

Since implementation, all crews have had the correct equipment and medication available for all emergency calls… it’s even prevented a stair chair and IO gun from going missing 🎉

By moving away from a pen-and-paper system, there is no longer a need to undertake time-intensive expiration checks - saving everyone time and money 💰

Ultimately, this solution has allowed Leavenworth County EMS to achieve its mission of ensuring their care is quality, responsive and cost-effective ✅

How can you implement this solution?

This is a custom solution based on our Medical Equipment Tracking Solution, Medical Device Tracking Solution, Prescription Drug Tracking Solution and Vehicle Tracking Solution.

If you think any of these would be helpful, get in touch, book a demo, or scan to get started 👇

Thank you

Thank you to the Leavenworth EMS crew for inviting us to share their story. Special thanks to Christy, Pat, Jam, Brian and Misty for working with us to create the perfect solution 🙏 We look forward to working together to continue its improvement and implementation for other users 💥