5 ways electronic supply management matters
Keeping shelves stocked and enough supplies in their place is one of the most important aspects of managing any hospital department efficiently and safely. Supply management is the pipeline from whence all instruments of care flow, and if it causes more problems than it solves, a department runs a risk of wasting money or, worse, diminishing patient care.
Monica Goetz, clinical nursing manager at Great Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), says that while supply chain management is often not the first thing that comes to mind in running a critical department, it plays a crucial part. "It's hard to keep track of stock," she said, noting that there are "some things that aren't as important as others but when you have someone who's seriously ill you want to know something is going to be there when you reach for it."
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Goetz shared five key ways that electronic supply management can improve patient safety, create efficiencies and save money.
1. Accurate stock counts. In a busy department, supply levels can fluctuate. When what's supposed to be in inventory isn't there, that "could definitely be a patient safety issue," said Goetz. "If we don't have accurate inventory and we reach for it and it's not there, it's something we can't use." The electronic system Goetz' department utilizes automatically reflects stock levels as items are ordered from the system. Staying on top of supply levels means that when something is running low and a redelivery isn't scheduled in the near future, department managers can arrange for a resupply. Goetz said with the technology her department uses, "when we push that button ... it allows us to communicate with purchasing, allows them to do off-schedule delivery."
2. Reporting. Managing supplies is a battle of par versus usage: par level being the "supposed" amount of use a product gets versus the actual usage. Analytics can help determine the gap between these two numbers and can greatly improve quality of care. A reporting system built into a supply management system allows Goetz' team to "see how often we go through (certain items) like water. Is there a better product out there that gives us a better cost savings?" The analytics that can be generated go beyond finding product replacements and keeping them in stock, too. It can influence training and how a team works. Goetz said her team can look at usage patterns and see when someone is using resources inefficiently. "We can track back to who the users are, we can look for trends," she said. "We are able to go back and say can you talk to me about this day, and that gives us an educational opportunity."
3. Money saving. This is the one on top of everyone's mind, for sure. Goetz said that by leveraging supply management systems to keep better track and to influence more efficient use of inventory, she can save her department more money. If I have that extra dollar at the end of the year, we can invest that back into our unit and our patients," said Goetz. Can the analytics that saved that cash actually help determine what would be the best investment? "It kind of does," said Goetz. She said that analytics generated by supply management can allow her to see what supplies a department goes through the most, and allows her to ask "is there something that's newer out there, something that's better?" She said a hospital "can customize what your overall purchases for patient care could be based on what the trends are in supply management."
4. Organization. Keeping things in stock and on hand is a moot point if nobody can find it. Knowing who needs what and being able to pinpoint it is a strong feature of electronic supply management, said Goetz. GBMC's inventory is organized by service, meaning that in each general area all of the products are grouped to relate to each other. Orders are submitted through portable devices, which helps speed up the process and reduce errors, and the system is touch screen based, which makes it easy to see what are the specific needs of each patient. Having the ability to quickly and accurately identify specific products and track in real time who they are going to is an asset to hospitals in terms of accountability and cost savings, Goetz said.
5. Time. The less time spent in the supply cabinet the better. "Standing next to a supply room or having to call for products – those are things that take you away from the bedside and take you away from the patient," said Goetz. By implementing a smart system to manage supply, departments or whole organizations can begin to slash away at inaccurate retrievals, problematic supply levels, or time wasted in trying to locate an uncommon item. Goetz sees supply management as driving many of the day-to-day actions in a hospital. When properly implemented, electronic supply management helps keep track of stock, helps departments make smart decisions about what to change in the future, keeps them organized and operating fluidly and can save them cash. All of these things tie back to the issue of time: the less of it spent doing all of the above means more freedom for nurses to "spend their time doing things that are beneficial to the patient."
