Scrubit app revolutionising the surgery set-up process
When nurse and mother-of-two Beth Wozniak noticed that many hospital practices seemed to be lagging behind modern medical advances (which is a scary thought for anyone about to go in for surgery), she decided to do something about it and, with her two co-founders – developed the new Scrubit app.
Scrubit ensures accurate surgical set-ups every time. It is already in use in several operating theatres in New South Wales, with plans to have it rolled out to other hospitals across Australia in the coming months, and it gives patients the peace of mind that their surgeon will be equipped with the tools they need to do their job.
Ms Wozniak explains: “Since completing my nursing degree in Queensland, I’ve worked in many operating theatres and often found that surgery setups were incomplete, meaning you’d see staff running from the theatre in the middle of a case to grab instruments needed to safely complete the surgery.
“Outdated processes cost hospitals thousands in wasted time and money and add to patient’s safety risk. Currently, nurses setting up for surgeries flick through various printed word documents to see what’s circled, then quickly try to find everything – which is time-consuming, difficult for younger/newer staff, and can be riddled with errors.”
Ms Wozniak knew there had to be a better way, so with co-founders software designer Lloyd Davies and technical expert Paul Fisher, solved these problems with a simple-to-use app that places all preference cards, setups, required equipment and item details (including item location and photo), in the hands of every staff member. Scrubit also ensures hospital preference cards are always current, assists with procurement needs, and allows nurses access to multiple setups in one simple checklist, further streamlining the process.
Scrubit has the attention of the healthcare industry, and is being heralded as reducing surgery costs, cancellations and delays; and improving surgeon satisfaction and patient safety through better preparation.
Maitland Private’s nurse unit manager Martine Mead has used the app for eight months and raves about it, saying: “Scrubit has revolutionized the operating theatre set-up process.”
ScrubIT won the 2017 Healthe Care Australia HESTA Innovation Award and was part of the HCF Catalyst Program (powered by Slingshot), designed to accelerate health technology business ideas.
With their sights on revolutionising the way nurses around the world prepare for surgery, the Scrubit team is proud to be ensuring patients have safer and more efficient surgical procedures.
For more information on Scrubit or to get in touch with one of the team, please visit https://www.scrubit.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.