Effective Inventory Management strategies for Hospital Pharmacies in Africa

Hospital pharmacies improve patient outcomes by being involved in the prescription, procurement, delivery, administration and review of medicines. So, it is important to ensure that the right patient gets the right dose, delivery method, time, drug and information. In addition, hospital pharmacies need to document everything — from medication to therapy. To carry out these responsibilities and reduce unnecessary expenses, inventory management is crucial.

Previously, a network of manufacturers and numerous intermediaries were required to get medicines to patients. With online pharmacies, accessing medicines has become easier. Apart from procurement, managing inventory is another challenge encountered by pharmacies.

In this article, we explore effective inventory management strategies that can aid hospital pharmacies across Africa in streamlining operations in a challenging business landscape.

Hospital Pharmacy

Hospital pharmacies are usually situated within the premises of a hospital and stock a larger range of medications, including medicines that are being studied and not yet approved compared to a community pharmacy. Hospital pharmacies provide services to only hospitalized patients and are not retail establishments and do not provide prescription service to the public.

In addition to dispensing prescriptions, hospital pharmacists are involved in the purchasing and quality testing of medicines and compounding of medicines due to the tailor-made medication demands of some patients.

Hospital pharmacists work closely with medical and nursing staff to ensure hospital patients receive the best treatment while advising on the selection, dose and type of administration. Hospital pharmacists can also work as inpatient or outpatient pharmacists and may have a variety of pharmacological specialities.

Inventory management

Inventory Management comprises the entire supply chain up until the point of sale. It is the sum total of activities required for procurement, storage, sale, use of materials and disposal. It is operational in the sense that it guarantees sufficiency.

Types of Inventory Management

The visual method:

This visually compares the stocks at hand with a listing of the number of products already booked. The pharmacist places the purchasing order when the stock number falls below the desired listed amount.

The periodic method:

In this method, the pharmacist regularly takes inventory stock at predefined intervals and compares it with a list of minimum desirable inventory levels. Anytime the quantity falls below the minimal requirement, more supplies are ordered.

The perpetual method:

This method uses digital inventory management which enables you to track sales, orders, shipping and delivery information and associated costs. This is the most efficient method to manage a pharmacy’s inventory and has garnered nods from pharmacies across Africa. The system helps predict demand for products based on inventory status, historical data and user inputs. Kindly visit our blog to learn more about this method of inventory management.

Why Inventory Management is important

• It ensures the availability of stock for continuity of service delivery.
• It reduces strain on scarce medicines.
• Provides an area for cost reduction on drugs without compromising quality.
• Minimizes drug wastage.
• Improves customer experience.

Inventory Management in Hospital Pharmacy

For a hospital pharmacy to run efficiently, you need to ensure a constant supply of medical supplies to avoid health complications, death, lawsuits and other unpleasant consequences. Hospital pharmacies should have life-saving medications in ample quantities to deal with situations like the Ebola epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. Inventory management ensures the availability of medications in ideal amounts, prevents spoilage and shrinkage, and facilitates proper storing of the medicines with the help of barcoding and tracking of inventory throughout its movement in the hospital pharmacy.

Effective Inventory Management Strategies

• Optimization of technology:

With technology, you can efficiently structure the storage of patient records, dispensing and administration of medicines. Technology will also ensure patients’ safety. Imagine having access to a platform such as Patient Medication Records on Remedial Rx. This will help you access records and share real-time patient data and medication records all in one place. With the PMR system on Remedial Rx, you can make decisions that will help improve the quality of services you offer patients.

• Avoidance of drug shortages:

Avoiding drug shortages is important in delivering consistent care to your patients but to be able to ensure drugs are in constant supply, you need to plan for factors that can lead to shortages. For instance, a recall, delay in manufacturing, climate conditions or a surge in demand can cause drug shortages. You need to collaborate with stakeholders involved in the supply chain such as distributors, manufacturers, NGOs etc. At Remedial Health we work with pharmaceutical manufacturers to get their products into the African market through our regulatory expertise and network of distributors and pharmacies which assists in unlocking access to those who need pharmaceutical products the most.

• Employment of data to minimize costs and improve care:

Hospital pharmacies frequently order the same amount of stock as in the past which can cause overstocking leading to the expiration of supplies. Overstocking, also known as surplus stock, happens when supplies purchased supersedes supplies sold. This leaves excess stock in shelves and warehouses which could harm profits as well as investments. To get the right amount, you can bank on data. The right data will help you forecast. Remedial Rx has an auto-replenishment feature that helps you automatically replenish stocks once it reaches a set benchmark and also manages soon-to-expire products. This feature solves the problem of tracking expiration dates for all your stock and tells you when demand for a drug has diminished and changes in prescription patterns. This will help you save money and curtail waste.

Closing Thoughts

Setting up inventory management software will be a game-changer for effective inventory control in a hospital pharmacy. An inventory software like Remedial Rx will help you capitalize on cash flow to fund other investments, eliminate drug wastage due to expired drugs and manage time so as to free up pharmacy staff for more productive tasks. We have explored effective Inventory management strategies and have shown you how Remedial Rx is the optimal inventory management solution. Check out this post on how to use Remedial Rx to maximize profits in your pharmacy