Inventory Management Practices in Hospitals

Inventory management practices are essential in the healthcare sector, particularly within hospitals where effective management of medical supplies, medications, and equipment is critical for patient care and operational effectiveness. Hospitals rely on inventory management to ensure that necessary medical supplies are available when needed while avoiding shortages and overstocking. Several techniques are used in hospital inventory management such as Just in Time (JIT) inventory to minimize shortage cost and reduce excess supply in other words waste. Also, ABC analysis to differentiate the importance of each item found in the hospital's inventory. On top of that the hospitals use Vendor Managed inventory (VMI) to have close collaboration with the supplier to make sure the stock is up to date. Additionally, the utilization of AI is crucial to optimize inventory level, Radio-Frequency identification (RFID) technology can be used to help track their inventory. Furthermore, using real life examples this essay will focus on how these methods and strategies are applied in hospital inventory management.