Do you work in a doctor’s office, a hospital, or another medical setting? If so, you likely rely on clinical supplies to carry out many tasks every day.
You’ll need to have easy access to everything from gauze and tape to medical gloves and swabs. Without these medical supplies, you won’t be able to provide the best possible care.
With this in mind, clinical supply management will be of the utmost importance. It’ll ensure you don’t ever run out of clinical supplies at the worst time.
We’ve created a list of strategies you should employ to manage your clinical supplies more effectively. Check them out below.
Table of Contents
Invest in the Right Clinical Supplies
When you first begin making a push to practice better clinical supply management, you should start by making a list of the clinical supplies you’ll need. Work with others in your doctor’s office, hospital, etc. to generate this list.
You might already have some of these clinical supplies on hand. But you might also need to invest in some health supplies you don’t have at the moment.
From medical-grade masks to scrub pants for women and men, you’re welcome to put whatever you would like on this list. It’ll help you keep better track of what your medical facility needs to keep on hand from now on.
Find a Place to Store Clinical Supplies
Maybe you already have a place where you store clinical supplies. But they might also be spread out all over the place in your healthcare facility, in which case you’ll need to find somewhere to put them.
It’s going to be tough to keep tabs on which clinical supplies you have and which you need if they aren’t all in a centralized location. It’s why you should aim to find a place where you can devote yourself to all your medical supplies.
Ideally, you’ll be able to use an entire room for clinical supply management. But if that isn’t possible, something as simple as a closet should do.
Take Inventory of Clinical Supplies
Once you know where you want to keep your facility’s clinical supplies, you should fill this space with all the supplies you have. You should also order any supplies you still need and introduce them into the space.
From there, it’s going to be your job to take inventory of clinical supplies regularly. At least once every week or two, you will need to go through your medical supplies and see what you’re running low on.
You should also keep track of which clinical supplies aren’t being used all that often. You might be able to scale back on ordering these supplies as often as you are now. You might even be able to stop ordering certain products altogether if they’re not being used like they once were.
Discourage Wasting Clinical Supplies
It isn’t uncommon for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners to get into the habit of wasting clinical supplies. It costs healthcare companies billions of dollars each year.
It would be worth addressing this situation within your own facility while putting a new clinical supply management plan into place. If you spot certain medical supplies running low every week, you might want to make a push to discourage employees from wasting them if they can avoid doing it.
The simple act of managing your medical supplies more closely should help you eliminate waste and allow you to save your company money over time.
Create a System for Ordering Clinical Supplies
If those who work at your medical facility notice that you’re running low on clinical supplies, there should be a system that allows them to let you know so that you can reorder them. This system should involve them doing more than just letting you know verbally.
You might want to ask employees to fill out a form to let you know that you’re running out of clinical supplies. You might also want to have them email you their order requests.
Either way, there should be a clear-cut system that ensures you’re able to get on the same page as those who need to order medical supplies.
Keep Clinical Supplies Neat
No matter where you decide to store clinical supplies within your facility, your storage space is going to get cluttered if you aren’t careful. It’ll be up to you to work to keep this area as neat and organized as possible.
You can do this by encouraging those who use medical supplies to clean up after themselves. You can also do it by stopping by your storage space every day or two to check up on it and reorganize anything that’s out of place.
Doing this will provide you with an opportunity to keep the space clean while also allowing you to see if there is anything that might need to be ordered ASAP.
Tinker With Your Clinical Supply Management Plan
You shouldn’t continue to use the same clinical supply management plan forever. You should make adjustments to it over the years to make sure it meets all your current needs.
If you’re constantly running out of clinical supplies, that alone will be a good indication that you need to tinker with your system. You’ll also want to rethink it if it has become difficult for employees to find medical supplies.
Additionally, you should adjust your plan based on any clinical supply chain problems that might pop up. There may be times when it’ll be well worth ordering extra supplies to guarantee you don’t run out of them when supply chain issues appear.
Save Time and Money by Managing Clinical Supplies
Your medical facility can’t provide the best care without the right clinical supplies. It’s what makes clinical supply management such a big deal.
Use the strategies found here to get your facility’s clinical supply management under control. It should reduce the chances of you ever running too low on medical supplies.
Find more tips that will help make your medical facility more successful by browsing through our other blog articles.
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