Simple-to-use Scrubit app revolutionizes operating theater set-up process

Australian Scrubit app is revolutionizing hospital surgical procedures and improving patient safety.

Anyone who works in a hospital will tell you some workplace practices have not kept up with modern technological advances. Australian nurse and mother-of-two Beth Wozniak’s new Scrubit app is revolutionizing the surgical theater and giving patients peace of mind that their surgeon will be equipped with the tools needed to do their job.

Scrubit is 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; accessible through smartphone, tablet or Ipad.

With the app already in use in New South Wales, Australia and plans to have it rolled out to across the country in coming months, Scrubit has the attention of the healthcare industry, and is being heralded as reducing surgery costs, cancelations and delays; and improving surgeon satisfaction and patient safety through better preparation.

As a winner of the 2017 Healthe Care Australia HESTA Innovation Award and part of the HCF Catalyst Program (powered by Slingshot and designed to accelerate health technology business ideas), the app ensures accurate surgical set-ups every time.

Ms Wozniak explains:

I’ve worked in many operating theaters and often found that surgery setups were incomplete, meaning you’d see staff running from the theater 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Outdated processes cost hospitals thousands in wasted time and money and add to patient’s safety risk.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 is 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 she partnered with local software designer Lloyd Davies and technical expert Paul Fisher, to co-found a project that would solve these issues in hospitals. To streamline this set-up process, Scrubit ensures hospital preference cards are always current, assist with procurement needs, and allow nurses access to multiple set-ups in one simple checklist.

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 theater set-up process.

With their sights on revolutionizing the way nurses around the world prepare for surgery, the Scrubit team is proud to be ensuring surgeons have the right tool for the job every time.