One of the toughest challenges with managing inventory is finding a balance between ordering too much or not enough. Knowing that you’re responsible for an item running out or for a patient not receiving a crucial treatment? It doesn’t feel great.
It not only hurts patient care, but it can disrupt the flow of the entire hospital. The good news is, it can be avoided!
In this blog, we’ll talk about steps you can take to ensure that your shelves are stocked and that you don’t run out of products when you need them the most.
Introducing Reorder Points
As an inventory manager, you’re responsible for keeping a large variety of products and tools in stock so that the hospital can function. Some may be used more than others. This is why it is important to look at each item when deciding when something is low and how much you should order. And this is where Reorder Points come in.
A Reorder Point is the point at which you should reorder an item. When thinking about Reorder Points, you should be asking yourself these three questions…
How do we know an item is running low?
A crucial part of not running out of items is being aware of when something is running low. Reorder tags are a great way to do this so that you aren’t relying on people to write things on the “Want List” and potentially miss things. There are three types of reorder tags that you can use to cover every type of product in your hospital.
Electronic reorder tags can be set up in your practice management software for items that are easily tracked in the system such as medications.
Physical reorder tags can be used for items that are not individually priced in your software such as syringes or IV lines.
Manual reorder tags can be used for specific areas of your hospital such as the dental cart that has products not found elsewhere in the hospital. These can include checklists or templates.
What does running low mean?
After you determine what kind of reorder tag you will be using, you need to think about what running low actually means for that specific item. For instance, items that are used frequently and in large quantities, such as syringes, may need a little more of a buffer when reordering.
For other items, you may be able to wait a little longer.
When you’ve established what low means for a specific item, you can set the reorder point and use reorder tags to alert you when it needs to be restocked.
Once we’ve determined an item is running low, how much do we order?
So, you know what sort of reorder tag you’re using and you’ve defined what low means for a product. Now you need to know how much to order.
Again, this will depend on the individual product, frequency of use, and how much you’re using. And for some products, this may change from season to season. This is where you can take a look at how much has been used historically to predict how much you will need going forward.
Ensuring that items are stocked appropriately can be stressful. However, it can be made easier by approaching it systematically and proactively using Reorder Points. Once set up, this method is easier to maintain and less time-consuming than doing daily inventory counts.
If you want more in-depth information on Reorder Points, get our free guide “How to Not Run Out of Things”. In the guide, we look at how to use reorder points. You’ll find real examples from inventory managers like you along with practical solutions for tracking and tagging certain items.
