Evaluation Criteria

A pneumatic tube system in the Pharmacy can be used for handling medications and IV’s to and from Nursing, Critical Care floors, Surgery, Radiology, and Emergency Room.

Lab samples—including whole blood, blood gasses, and urine—can be delivered from Emergency, Nursing stations, and Critical Care areas more efficiently than if handled by valuable personnel walking to and from the various locations.

The projected sending and receiving rates on the attached worksheet are projected at this time by the number of beds supported. An “on site” survey would produce a very accurate projection of sending and receiving rates and the dollar value of projected savings. As an example, a recent survey made by our personnel revealed that the Pharmacy in a 350 bed facility is projected to send approximately 300 pneumatic tube carriers in a 24 hour period.

When using a pneumatic tube system, users tend not to batch work and will send more often than if delivered by foot. Therefore, a conservative factor is used to project the number of saved walking trips. This basis is carried forward for other proposed stations.

Each trip involves walking to the elevator, waiting for the elevator, riding the elevator, and walking from the elevator to the destination and returning. It is assumed that some time will be lost on an average trip, as it is anticipated that personnel on errands will stop to talk with someone along the way.

The attached worksheet accumulates the projected traffic and saved personnel trips associated with the key proposed pneumatic tube station locations. The calculations project the anticipated annual savings, allowing for operational costs and depreciation.

Summary

Specimens and medication requests are currently being carried by people when they could be transported by a pneumatic tube. When messengers and runners are not available, nurses and other professionals are moving STAT and non-routine requests and items throughout the hospital. The amount of time spent by hospital personnel moving items is particularly significant in terms of FTE’s because of the distance they must travel. Walking delivery trip times of ten minutes plus are common. Implementing a pneumatic tube system would convert this lost time to a direct savings in manpower and a higher level of productivity.

Batching of non-STAT items results in delays in the receipt of materials, plus the tendency to overstaff in order to process requests that arrive in batches at peak times, rather than being distributed more evenly throughout the day. Turn around times for processing and results are always longer when items are delivered by walking.

Download PDF Worksheet