Proper hospital inventory management may be challenging since this industry faces many issues. Thus administrators must ensure they have enough facilities which can meet the demand of the nurses and doctors without taking a lot of space or budget. Effective management of the inventory system can enable you to react swiftly to the healthcare demands so that you can reduce costs through maximum stock holding.
Remember, if you have ill-equipped inventory, you will lose many sales opportunities, also if you have one which is over-equipped, you may incur unnecessary operational costs for transportation, handling, and storage.
If you have a weak inventory system and you wish to improve it, follow this guide.
1. Collecting data from the supply chain
If you use the data from your supply chain, you can save a lot of money in your healthcare sector. You can get this data by analyzing the kind of tools that are using starting from computer equipment to software. During your analyzation you must find out the following:
- If your tools are meeting your expectations.
- If your software is offering any solution.
- If, by getting new current software, you would solve your health care inventory issues.
You can also sit down with the management team so that you can identify the major issues you face in inventory management. If you are able to find any gaps in your technology, then you can quickly determine if you are using your software appropriately. You can also if it’s essential for you to get a new technology or if you must create new procedures.
2. Close any loops in your internal communication channels
Communication involving inventory management must be continuous. Therefore, you must look for strategies to earn trust from your staff so that you can minimize the hoarding of supply. To achieve this, you can involve all your staff in planning and discussing how new inventory practices can assist them.
Proper management of changes will be required in this case, which may include continuous revising or review of the existing processes and policies in regards to inventory management. Such policies are needed for times of crisis, as we are experiencing today with the spike in demand for cloth face shields.
You must also communicate the lessons learned, successes, and results achieved to your staff so that they can feel encouraged in the work they do in pushing the healthcare sector to higher levels.
3. Organize your supply room
If you have a hospital supply room that is untidy, then it can be a severe threat to the inventory management of your healthcare. Disorganization can lead to many issues, such as lost revenue, since you cannot account for the cost of some of the items.
You can look for the best way on how you are going to organize your supply room so that you can easily find any tools which you use regularly.
4. Assign clear team responsibilities
Every person who plays a vital role in the supplies of the hospital must understand clearly his/her role in inventory management. You can do this by educating your staff starting from the junior level that is cleaners, those involved in ordering supplies, checking purchase orders, and any other person involved in this process. Ensure that they understand how their roles play a significant role in the success of the management of your healthcare inventory system.
5. Mobile management
You can use mobile applications for real-time interactions with inventory by the store managers and other staff in this sector so that they can improve customer service, track stock, and plan promotions and offers.
Apart from offering real-time information about the inventory, brand information, and product details, you can easily track and update the inventory at the basic levels.
If your staff have access to such kind of information, they will engage your clients in the best way and generate more leads. For instance, in case a client is online and wishes to know about your healthcare services and products, he/she will be informed immediately on the availability of the products or services.
Finally, it’s important for you to invest in JD Edwards to offer support to your healthcare team for the activities that they do.
This can also enable you to get prepare your team for success so that you get maximum returns from your investment. In short, JDE Managed services can offer you clear visibility into the issues which you face in the healthcare sector starting form technological and functional levels. You can also get an opportunity of improving your JD Edwards system.