In the past, inventory management was mostly done manually and took a lot of time. Because of that, trying to standardize products was very hard to do.
Now, not standardizing product can lead to a lot of variation in both clinical practice and choice of supplies, which increases both product and labor costs.
Standardization efforts fail due to these three common reasons:
- Little to no time to dedicate to the process
- Difficulty getting the right people together to discuss and agree on a standardization strategy. You must have clinical buy-in to make any standardization effort work. If you involve clinicians from the very beginning and make sure they have a voice, then they will be more willing to comply with the program once it’s put in motion.
- Large data sets that are difficult to work with. Trying to understand and make the best use of data without technology is next to impossible.
Implementing a standardization strategy can represent a significant cultural change that requires an evolution of policies, procedure and training. To help ensure your standardization project is executed successfully, make sure you dedicate time to the project, have the right people involved and that they agree on the strategy and try to understand and make use of data.
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