Importance of Inventory Management in the Healthcare Industry

Inventory Management has a vital role in the Healthcare Industry, especially when people's lives are at stake. The Inventory Management Software lets you know the detailed information on medicines batches & stock. It is also very useful in maintaining the doctor's equipment.  

Overall, it takes care of your inventory, purchases, sales orders, payments, etc. It protects your company from potential damage. Inventory management is important for every business type whether a medical company or any medical store.  

Why Inventory Management is Crucial for Hospitals?

With the help of Inventory Management software, any hospital or medical store can keep precise and updated stock records. Especially for pharmaceuticals and surgical equipment. It is one of the most significant jobs for any hospital organization.

As pharmaceuticals and surgical equipments are the most utilized items/things in a hospital, each hospital should consistently keep up a decent load of medicine stock.

Not just that it should also have vaccines and degradable products which are used during the operation or surgery such as masks, syringes, gloves, etc.

We know that medicines are costly and small surgery equipment is also expensive. So, it really important for the healthcare department to keep track of these items. The big investment is a huge and enough reason to keep track.

Also Read: What Are the Functions of Inventory Management Software?

What difficulties are faced by Hospital administration?

• Shortage of Pharmaceuticals  
• Loss or Theft of Surgical Equipment  
• Loss or Theft of Pharmaceuticals  
• Overstock of Pharmaceuticals  
• Tracking Expiry date of Pharmaceuticals  
• Sorting Medicines  
• Generating Bills  
• Creating Sales Reports  
• Saving Medical device from getting stolen  

Most of these problems can be resolved with the asset tracking technologies such as barcode, QR Code, RFID, etc. These technologies provide real-time location and keep track of inventory that is helpful in minimizing inventory theft, inventory misplacement.

When you have huge warehouses, it allows you to find the required inventory without wasting any time.

According to Statista,  “This statistic shows the distribution of the global radio-frequency identification (RFID) healthcare market in 2016 and a forecast for 2021, sorted by application area. It is estimated that by 2021 around one-third of the market will be generated in the area of inventory management.”

How Inventory Management helps in overcoming the challenges?  

It informs which pharmaceuticals are less in stock, how much is available in stock. It keeps track of all the medicines so it can also assist you in managing medicines also alerts you when the expiry of medicine is coming.

When it keeps tracking your assets efficiently then there is no fear of theft and stolen assets (Surgical Equipment, Medicines & Medical devices). It also informs you about the condition of the surgical equipment for its maintenance.  

The hospitals have implantable medical devices such as surgical clips, which are costly but small in size. It means that they can be stolen easily. But these medical devices have a serial number through which you can track their movement, with the inventory management system. Until it is utilized for the patient.  

We know that in a hospital there are several assets, which are precious. If any assets get stolen, no wonder they can lead to an unfortunate consequence.

Also, it can make a bad reputation for the hospital. This is why inventory management software is very important.  

Overall, the Inventory Management System is the ideal answer for all Hospital requirements and necessities of emergency clinics and facilities.

These days, there are various Inventory Management Software can be availed from the market & some companies also offer their service. It can run on different platforms.

The software is compatible with Apple iPhone and Android Smartphones and tablets also. Inventory Management Software is an absolute necessity for a hospital to run efficiently and effectively.  

Also Read: What you should need to know about Inventory Management?

What are the advantages of Inventory Management System?  

Other than the above-mentioned points. It provides several advantages  

Asset Tagging for Check in check out process -

To expand the effectiveness of the Inventory Management System you should utilize asset tagging. As a professional practice do not utilize the serial numbers as they may be have used before hence it can be a duplicate serial number and can lead to error. Tagging equipment is essential in order to track usage.  

Efficient Stock management -

As we have mentioned earlier, you can well manage all your pharmaceuticals with the software. It also informs you about the expiry date of medicines and when will be stock exhaust or is overstock.

Overall, the software also enables you to track easily the current stock of medicines.  

Use analytics to make effective decisions -

The inventory management systems gather the information that transforms into analytics, which enables you to use inventory efficiently. You can make better decisions to estimate demands more precisely.  

Real-time tracking -

The software provides you real-time tracking which means the inventory is updated all the time. You will always have exact accurate inventory counts.

You can also track inventory orders and automatically re-order when stock is less. If the product doesn't reach its destination you will receive a notification for it.

Also Read: What makes QR code different from Barcode in Asset Tracking?

How Does Asset Infinity's Inventory Management Software Help?

1. You get a complete view of your inventory stock available at different locations.
2. View all inventory transactions on a single page.
3. Get alert & notifications when inventory goes below the defined level.
4. You can set reorder limit for each particular inventory.
5. Add, move & change inventory from one location to another.
6. Create requests for new purchase order items.
7. Upload files and images for references.  

EndNote

We know that a doctor in a hospital has many objectives, but the end goal of the doctor is saving a life. However, a doctor needs the help of medicines, equipment, and staff to cure a patient. But most important hospitals and doctors need an inventory management system.  

So that they can provide medicines from inventory to a patient and doctor can perform surgery with its equipment with its clean, rust-free equipment.  

The inventory management system also assists hospital staff. It increases accuracy and saves time as well as money. When a hospital manages inventory successfully it enhances profit margins.