A 1980s-vintage series of TV commercials stated, "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen." The same could be said for two registered nurses who delivered presentations March 14 at HealthPack 2006 in Dallas. But that should come as no surprise since they represented "the customer" to the event's medical device-related audience. Coincidentally, "The Voice of the Customer" served as the conference's theme.
Medical device packages must be designed so that hospital and clinic employees can easily store them in carts or in cabinets. They must be easy to retrieve or pull from storage, be easy to count during inventory, and be easy to open. And those were just the basics identified by Karen Kiefer, RN with Texas Health Resources. Afterward, RN Fran Koch from the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas focused on the challenges packaging provides operating room personnel, citing package opening, tearing, labeling, and waste as key concerns. Both presentations are available online. The following two screens (or pages) highlight insights from these talks.
Originally scheduled for New Orleans, the two-day event's attendance (upwards of 160) topped last year's despite the change of venue, testifying to its strength. HealthPack 2007 specifics are still to be determined, but the 2006 conference proceedings indicated a return to New Orleans. [HCP]
By Jim Butschli, Editor
