Reducing waste, improving workflows, and strengthening patient safety in the operating room
Across the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), surgical teams operate within one of the largest and most complex health care systems in the country. Delivering timely, high-quality care to Veterans requires precision at every step, from planning and preparation to execution in the operating room.
However, for years, one persistent challenge has remained, which is managing surgical preference cards. Traditionally maintained as handwritten or paper-based records, these cards often become outdated, inconsistent, and difficult to manage across facilities and teams.
In a system as large as the VA, those inefficiencies can scale quickly, leading to delays, wasted resources, and added burden on clinical staff. Thankfully, solutions like PREFcards™, provided to the VA by DSS and LiveData, are helping to modernize this critical part of perioperative workflows.
PREFcards™ provides a digital, centralized approach to managing surgeon-specific preferences for instruments, supplies, and equipment. Instead of relying on static documents, surgical teams can now access real-time, up-to-date information that reflects current practices.
Because updates are made once and applied across all relevant procedures, the risk of outdated or inconsistent cards is significantly reduced. Integration with perioperative scheduling systems further strengthens this process by automatically linking procedures to the correct preference cards, helping ensure case carts are prepared accurately from the start.
In many surgical environments, a significant portion of supplies prepared for procedures go unused. Items are often opened “just in case,” pulled unnecessarily, or left to expire due to overstocking or misplacement.
PREFcards™ helps address this by bringing precision and accountability into supply management. By aligning preference cards with actual usage and enabling quick updates across all procedures, the solution reduces over-preparation and improves inventory control.
Over time, this leads to meaningful cost savings and more predictable case-level expenses, allowing resources to be used more effectively in support of patient care.
Operating room time is expensive, and delays caused by missing or incorrect supplies can quickly disrupt the entire surgical schedule.
With PREFcards™, surgical teams benefit from more accurate case preparation, fewer intraoperative interruptions, and smoother transitions between procedures. When the right supplies are in place from the beginning, teams can stay focused on delivering care rather than troubleshooting avoidable issues.
The result is a more efficient, predictable operating room environment that supports both clinical and operational goals.
Sterile processing departments play a critical role in surgical readiness, yet they are often impacted by incomplete or inconsistent preference card data.
PREFcards™ improves this process by providing clear, standardized electronic pick lists and better visibility into where supplies and instruments are located. This makes case cart assembly faster, more accurate, and less prone to error.
At the same time, accurate and up-to-date preference cards directly support patient safety. Surgical teams can rely on having the correct instruments available, reducing the need for last-minute substitutions, and helping ensure accurate surgical counts. Visual references for case setup further enhance consistency, especially for newer staff or complex procedures.
When implemented across facilities, PREFcards™ delivers more than just incremental improvements. It creates a foundation for standardized, efficient surgical workflows at a scale.
By reducing waste, minimizing delays, and improving accuracy, the solution helps free up clinical staff to focus more on patient care while lowering operational costs. It also supports greater consistency across teams, which is essential in a system as large and complex as the VA.
For clinicians who started with handwritten preference cards, the shift to digital solutions represents a fundamental change.
PREFcards™ replaces fragmented, manual processes with a modern, data-driven approach that improves efficiency, reduces burden, and strengthens patient safety. As the VA continues to modernize its health care systems, solutions like PREFcards™ are helping ensure that surgical teams are better equipped to deliver high-quality care to Veterans.
Click here to learn more about this solution for the VA. Contact us today to schedule a demo of PREFcards™.