An MRP system for surgical linen management at a large hospital.
Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) has been used extensively in manufacturing and other industries to improve on-time delivery and to reduce costs. In this paper, we illustrate how an MRP-type system was developed to monitor surgical linen at a large teaching hospital. We also describe a bar-code scanning 'tag and recapture' study to estimate total inventory. The hospital implemented several changes based upon our recommendations that resulted in time savings and a smoother flow of materials throughout the surgical linen supply chain.
O'Neill
L
L
Sloan Program of Health Management, N 229 MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. lo22@cornell.edu
Murphy
M
M
Gray
D
D
Stoner
T
T
D001512:Bedding and Linens; D006752:Hospital Planning; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000458:organization & administration; D007445:Inventories, Hospital; D008421:Materials Management, Hospital; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*