RFID Solution Of Hospital Stores Management

The RFID based solution would be to embed each part as it comes in with an electronic label (an RFID tag). The RFID tag would have a unique ID number which is linked to the material database, having all relevant information about the part. The electronic labeled part is now put into a smart shelf.The smart shelf is composed of a built in antenna and an RFID reader, which keeps track of all the RFID tags inside (the medical parts). The moment a part is removed, the RFID reader senses this and communicates this fact to a central database which updates its material list. In fact, the system can be made even better, with requisitions also being routed through the database.When a doctor or paramedic enters a material requisition (say for a catheter) in his PDA, the database instantly “reserves” one for him in the smart shelf This reserved part is typically which has the lowest shelf life amongst all the remaining catheters. This requisition is also flashed to the stores personnel, who also get a number of the particular catheter (not just any catheter that fits the bill), that has to be removed from the smart shelf for issue to the doctor.The storekeeper removes this particular catheter from the shelf, peels off the RFID tag and sends it across to the doctor.The instant the catheter is removed from the shelf, an entry is made in the central database, which informs the Purchasing guys that they just reduced their inventory of catheters by one. Once the number of such reductions reaches a critical mass, (the re-order level in inventoryspeak), an order will be automatically issued to replenish the stock. This system also has other side benefits. There is an automatic audit trail generated showing who issued a requisition for what, who removed the material from the shelf at what time, cost to be billed to patient, which catheter got used by which patient, etc. etc. There is very little scope for any malpractices like using date expired materials on unsuspecting patients, being suddenly short of supplies (because one day most of the catheters got used up and some were pinched or “lost”).

History Of Hospital Stores Management:

In the past, hospitals were places where patients underwent surgeries, recovered and convalesced. They still do today of course, but these days, surgeries require a large amount of special parts, that are either used and thrown away, or are implanted directly into the patient’s body. These parts are typically stored in cupboards or boxes in the hospital’s supply store. Inventory tracking, keeping records of the material requisitions and replenishment are still manually done, or at the most, some basic forms of computerized databases are used. However, the keying in of data is still manually done at many places. Typically, a doctor or paramedic, will issue a written requisition to the store for a part, say a catheter. This part will be retrieved by the store staff from the store shelf, checked for its shelf life and then issued. Data entries into the system will be done manually perhaps at the end of the day. In large hospitals, this process will be repeated many times for many items, every single day.

Problem In The Persent System

• Medical Parts generally have a shelf life. This means that they must be used within a certain number of days of manufacture.
• There is no automated system at present to intimate or give warnings when the parts will cross their expiry dates, hence either a large number of parts may have to be thrown away before they are used, or worse, date-expired parts may be actually used.
• Since reconciliation of the actual parts present on the shelves and the register or database is done only periodically, at any given point of time, nobody has an idea of how many parts of what type are actually present in the store (vis a vis being merely present on the books).
• Due to reconciliation problems and the possibility of not being found out immediately, is great incentive for thieves to steal these parts, which are quite expensive.

Advantages Of  RFID System

• Audit trail of expensive hospital parts usage.
• Optimum utilization of inventory will lead to lower inventory carrying costs, lesser stock outs and less number of”surprises”.
• This system could be a big boon for government and public hospitals who work on tight budgets.
• Patient safety is not compromised while meeting lower operating cost goals.

Future Scenarios Of Hospital Stores Management

The hospital smart shelf may become the norm, rather than the exception in all publicly funded hospitals and even in privately owned ones.Costs of such systems are dropping, but even now the ROI is easily justified, it will be impossible to ignore in the days to come.