The Product
Spinal and epidural trays include all the components used to deliver local anesthesia to a patient’s spine – commonly done for surgical procedures or for pain management during labour. A variety of needle sizes are needed to accommodate different patient anatomies, and the trays come in different versions according to their needle size.
The Challenge
Supply chain issues associated with a warehouse move meant a major Canadian vendor was unable to locate and distribute any trays to hospitals – leading to a massive shortage. When other potential vendors were approached, they only had kits with less commonly used needle sizes.
The Outcome
The Clinical Team analyzed MMC’s spend data to determine which epidural needle sizes were utilized most by Member hospitals and shared this information with the vendor. Ongoing collaboration led to the vendor producing two generic trays (one spinal and one epidural) that contained the most commonly used needle size.
These temporary trays were specially produced as a stopgap over the period of a few months until the full line of trays was available again.