title: Improving medical stores management through automation and effective communication.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical stores management in hospitals is a tedious and time consuming chore with limited resources tasked for the purpose and poor penetration of Information Technology. The process of automation is slow paced due to various inherent factors and is being challenged by the increasing inventory loads and escalating budgets for procurement of drugs.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out an indepth case study at the Medical Stores of a tertiary care health care facility. An iterative six step Quality Improvement (QI) process was implemented based on the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle. The QI process was modified as per requirement to fit the medical stores management model. The results were evaluated after six months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After the implementation of QI process, 55 drugs of the medical store inventory which had expired since 2009 onwards were replaced with fresh stock by the suppliers as a result of effective communication through upgraded database management. Various pending audit objections were dropped due to the streamlined documentation and processes. Inventory management improved drastically due to automation, with disposal orders being initiated four months prior to the expiry of drugs and correct demands being generated two months prior to depletion of stocks. The monthly expense summary of drugs was now being done within ten days of the closing month.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Improving communication systems within the hospital with vendor database management and reaching out to clinicians is important. Automation of inventory management requires to be simple and user-friendly, utilizing existing hardware. Physical stores monitoring is indispensable, especially due to the scattered nature of stores. Staff training and standardized documentation protocols are the other keystones for optimal medical store management.
authors.affiliation: Medical Officer (IT), Command Hospital (Western Command), C/O 56 APO, India.
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Dept of Community Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411040, India.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Cariappa
authors.affiliation: Senior Advisor (Rheumatology), Command Hospital (Eastern Command), Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Vishal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marwaha
authors.affiliation: MG (Med), HQ M & G Area, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Mukti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Consultant (Paed Surgery), Brig IC Adm, Command Hospital (Western Command), C/O 56 APO, India.
authors.forename: Manu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arora
keywords: Inventory management; Medical stores; PDSA cycle; QI process