Increasing Efficiencies with Ordering and Storing Medical Supplies

Team members were introduced to QI concepts via webinars and presentations from other LCHD QI initiative team reports. Activities started with a brainstorming session and development of an affinity diagram to describe the problem and prioritize action items. The team then constructed a flowchart to identify the current process. The team planned time frames for action items. The first action item was to consolidate the medical supply storage areas. Multiple staff members in the organization assisted with consolidation of supplies (e.g., nursing, management, IT, and emergency preparedness staff). All supplies are now housed on clearly labeled shelves in a newly designated supply storage room. The original plan was to transition from a monthly to a quarterly ordering schedule immediately after the consolidation of supplies. Transitioning to a new director of nursing caused a temporary delay in this strategy; the new director decided that she needed some history of supply usage before she could comfortably adjust to ordering only once per quarter. However, to avoid a haphazard ordering schedule, order placements were limited to once per month. The aim statement was modified to reflect this tactic. Moreover, in the process of consolidating supplies, staff discovered an overabundance of supplies from the H1N1 flu pandemic (syringes, needles, gloves, etc.). These supplies had been shipped from the federal government in 2009, so they were not purchased from the LCHD budget. The nursing staff have been using these supplies to deplete the items from inventory, despite the fact that the specific brands or types of supplies have not always been the preferred ones. As a result, an accurate measurement of cost savings is difficult to assess now because supply ordering has been held to a minimum while staff deplete old stock. The aim statement was further modified to reflect this situation. Once a more regular supply order schedule resumes, which is anticipated to be in mid-2013, staff can make a more accurate comparison of supply costs to determine the savings that a new, streamlined process will achieve.

A satisfaction survey was distributed to nursing and clerical staff to measure outcomes after inventory consolidation. Staff satisfaction was a key measure to ensure that staff morale was not inadvertently compromised by the changes. Similar surveys will continue in the future to add incremental improvements. Staff are tracking the number of supply outages on an ongoing basis. Staff have established a baseline of supply costs, and supply costs will be calculated for the two quarters after old stock has been depleted and a quarterly ordering schedule has been established.