INVENTORY

Inventory 

  • In health care system, material management is concerned with providing the drugs, supplies and equipment needed by health personnel to deliver health services.
  • Inventory control it is an important aspect of material management.
  • Inventory control is a scientific system which indicates as to what to order, when to order, and how much to order, and how much to stock so that purchasing costs and storing costs are kept as low as possible.

Purposes of Ward Inventory

  • To provide adequate supply of material.
  • To avoid shortage of material in a ward.
  • To ease the functioning of a ward.
  • To minimize the losses.
  • To keep a check on the material.
  • To maintain the balance between availability of material and the actual demand.
  • To find out the status/condition of articles in store.
  • To minimize the financial expenditure.

Major activities of Inventory control

  •  Planning the inventories,
  •  Procurement of inventories,
  •  Receiving and inspection of inventories,
  • Storing and issuing the inventories,
  • Recording the receipt and issues of inventories,
  • Physical verification of inventories,
  • Follow-up function,
  • Material standardization and substitution.

Steps in inventory control

  • Deciding the maximum – minimum limits of inventory,
  • Determination of reorder point,
  • Determination of reorder quantity,
  • Perpetual inventory control,
  • ABC analysis,

Techniques in Inventory control 

A. ABC Analysis (Always Better Control)

  1. A - Items represent the high cost centre,
  2. B - Items represent the immediate cost centres, and
  3. C- Items represent low cost centres.

B. VED Analysis (Vital, Essential, Desirable)

  1. Vital- items without which treatment comes to standstill, i.e. non- availability can not be tolerated.
  2. Essential- items whose non availability can be tolerated for 2- 3 days, because similar or alternative items are available.
  3. Desirable- items whose non availability can be tolerated for a long period. Although the proportion of vital, essential and desirable items varies from hospital to hospital depending on the type and quantity of workload.(On an average vital items are 10%, essential items are 40% and desirable items make 50% of total items available.)

C. HML Analysis (High, Medium, Low)

D. FSN Analysis (Fast, Slow moving and Non-moving)

E. SDE Analysis (Scarce, Difficult, Easy)

Role of Head Nurse or Nurse-in-charge-

  • Responsible for keeping an adequate amount of equipment and supplies in the ward
  • Make sure that equipments and supplies are in good conditions
  • Put in a requisition for necessary equipment for repair and maintenance when needed.
  • Make sure that equipments and supplies are conveniently located
  • Make sure that all the personnel in the ward should clearly know who may use ward articles and equipments and who assumes responsibility for it .
  • The head nurse must be vigilant and prevent waste or misuse by educating the staff in the economical and appropriate use of all equipments and materials.
  • She may sometimes arrange a ward class to enable the staff to know the cost of the equipment and materials.
  • She takes three steps to ensure an adequate stock of available supplies in the ward or unit: Set a standard for the quantity of each item to be maintained in the ward all the time.
  • Have a satisfactory system for replacement of broken or worn out equipment.
  • Make regular inventories of all the items.

Responsibilities of the Ward Sister 

  • Keeping in mind the sufficient supply of materials.
  • Materials should be in good conditions.
  • Giving responsibilities to handle supply and equipments.
  • Checking for misuse and how to minimize it.
  • Educating the ward staffs and other health care workers in the economical use of materials.

 

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