Surgery technologist at North Texas Plastic Surgery reduced the time spent ordering supplies to one hour per week instead of taking work home with her.

The Situation

“Our caseload was growing by leaps and bounds, which was fantastic but the supply chain management duties were demanding. It was tough. Ordering had to get done and I knew there was a better, more efficient way to make it happen,” said Patricia Zeece, Certified Surgical Technologist (CST) at North Texas Plastic Surgery.

North Texas Plastic Surgery (NTPS) has three facilities located in and around the Dallas metropolitan area and focuses on cosmetic procedures for adults and children (cleft palate). Their caseload had doubled in one year, stretching the staff to its limits. Patricia was brought in as a CST and is also a trained first assistant who assists the doctor during surgery. She also is responsible for setting up the room for the next procedure.

“All of us wear many hats on a daily basis,” said Patricia, an industry veteran who has been a CST for over a decade. “It is important for me to do my job well but due to the heavy caseload, it is imperative that I be as efficient as possible so my focus can be on patient care.”

Responsible for all the supplies ordered at NTPS, Patricia was ordering supplies on an almost-daily basis. The system was laborious to navigate: logging on to multiple vendor websites, toggling between vendor sites to compare prices, then creating the orders took so much time that Patricia began ordering supplies on her days off. This was not sustainable.

The Solution

Hybrent completely streamlined the ordering process and has saved Patricia hours of work. Hybrent’s solution allowed her to see all vendors at once so she could comparison shop and with all the items loaded into the system, she did not have to track down reference numbers or pricing. And all vendors could be shopped on one screen. Patricia is able to check off what she wants to order, enter the quantity, and each vendor receives its own PO to fulfill the order.

All the supplies we use are loaded into the ordering platform and I don’t have to manually search for items or switch back and forth between vendor sites. Hybrent instantly searches all vendors at once for optimal price and availability,” she said. 

The Results

Ordering supplies now takes Patricia only one hour per week, allowing her to spend more time concentrating on her CST duties and on patient care. She also uses some of her newfound time to locate new vendors for NTPS to work with, saving them even more money. In rare instances when she needs to check on supplies from home, the Hybrent’s mobile app allows Patricia to check on the supply status quickly and easily.

Additionally, the system was so easy to use that other team members quickly learned the platform and began to help Patricia with ordering, bringing more balance to NTPS’s supply chain operation.

“We love Hybrent! In addition to saving time, Hybrent has given me peace of mind,” noted Patricia. “I don’t take work home with me anymore! And because the platform is so intuitive, there was no barrier to my co-workers learning the system and helping out with placing orders. This allows the work to be spread around and it gives me more time to concentrate on patients.”