INVENTORY CONTROL

MEANING OF INVENTORY –
 An inventory is a detailed list of all articles on the ward their specification and standard
number or quantity.
 Inventory is a record of all goods or materials procured, received, stored and used in the
hospital.

INTRODUCTION- In health care system, material management is concerned with providing

the drugs, supplies and equipment needed by health personnel to deliver health services.
Inventory control is an important aspect of material management. Control of the items is done
through regularized inventory where in the items are piled up .The items are recognized, stored,
used, transferred and replaced.

DEFINITION OF INVENTORY CONTROL-

 “It means stocking adequate number and kind of stores, so that the materials are available
whenever required and wherever required.”
 “Inventory control is a scientific system which indicates as to what to order, when to
order, and how much to order, and how much to stock so that purchasing costs and
storing costs are kept as low as possible.”

DEFINITION OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

 Inventory management is the planning and controlling of inventories in order to meet the
competitive priorities of the organization.

PURPOSES OF INVENTORY-
 To make an account of materials held in the ward to check against the recommended
standards & take remedial measures.
 To dispose or obsolete (not needed for longer time) material.
 To determine the serviceability of materials.
 To request for repair or replacement.
 To minimize shortages.
 To improve quality of care. For the smooth function of an organization.
 To protect against stock outs.
TYPES OF INVENTORY
 Official inventory -Materials lying in the main stores and being accounted for but have
not been issued to the user units.examples- medical and surgical items ,dressings, linens,
X ray supplies, laboratrary items etc.
 Unofficial inventory -The materials have been issued to the user units like the
dispensary, CSSD, Laundry, wards, OPD etc. In case of forecasting or demand estimation
these items are not taken into consideration by the hospital administration, so it is called
as un official inventory for hospitals

OBJECTIVES OF INVENTORY CONTROL

 To supply the materials in time.
 To give maximum clients service.
 To reduce or minimize investment in inventories.
 To avoid shortage of stock.
 To minimize the losses.
 To meet unforeseen future demand.
 To minimize idle time by avoiding stock outs and shortages.

INVENTORY CONTROL INVOLVES -

 Maintenance of stores record.
 Physical control of materials.
 Preservation of materials.
 Minimization of obsolescence.
 Reconciliation of stocks with book figures

FUNCTIONS OF INVENTORY CONTROL:

 To carry adequate stock to avoid stock-outs.

 To order sufficient quantity per order to reduce order cost.
 To stock just sufficient quantity to minimize inventory carrying cost.
 To make judicial selection of limiting the quantity of perishable items and costly
materials.
 To take advantage of seasonal cyclic variation on availability of materials to order the
right quantity at the right time.
 To provide safety stock to take care of fluctuation in demand/ consumption during lead
time.
 To ensure optimum level of inventory holding to minimize the total inventory cost.
TECHNIQUES OF INVENTORY CONTROL -
 ABC( Always ,Better, Control)
 VED(Vital, Essential, Desirable)
 HML(High, Medium , Low)
 FSN(Fast, Slow moving and Non moving)
 SDE(Scarce, Difficult, Easy)

ABC (Always, Better, Control) - It is the analysis of stores items on cost criteria. “It is the
process of classifying items by using values as measure.” Also called as Pareto analysis.

A- items:

1. Less in number
2. Consume major portion of funds.
3. Managed by top management.
4. Tight control, rigid estimates of requirements
5. Strict and closer watch 6.Require low safety stock Eg. DEFIBRILLATOR,
VENTILLATOR

B items –

1. Moderate controls
2. Purchase based on rigid requirement
3. Reasonably strict watch and control
4. Management done at middle level Eg. GLUCOMETER, MEDICINES

C items

1. Larger in number
2. Consume lesser amount of fund
3. Ordinary control measure.
4. Require high safety stock
5. Management is done at lower levels. EG. PAPER PINS, GAUZE PIEC

ADVANTAGES –

 Easy to control the wastage of costly items.

 Easy to maintain cost and turnover rate.
 Simple no confusing formulas are involved.
 Helps to exercise selective control.
DISADVANTAGES –

 Inconvenient to compute and carry out this analysis when the items are in number of
several thousands.
 More chances of deterioration of class C items as they are purchased in bulk.
 Lose control on C items may result in shortages.
 Focuses on money value and not on functional importance of such items, resulting in
shortages of critical items.
 Does not take into account variation of prices of items as time goes.

VED ANALYSIS (Vital, Essential and Desirable) - Based on how critical the item is
for providing health services.

 ‘V’ -vital items without which a hospital cannot function

 ‘E’ -essential items without which an institution can function but may affect the quality
of the services
 ‘D’ - desirable items, unavailability of which will not interfere with functioning because
they can be easily purchased as and when required

Vital-

 Items without which treatment comes to standstill: i.e. non- availability cannot be
tolerated.
 The vital items are stocked in abundance and very strict control. E.g anti snake venom

Essential-

 Items whose non availability can be tolerated for 2-3 days.

 Essential items are stocked in medium amount.
 Reasonably strict watch. E.g corticosteroid drug

Desirable-

 Items whose non availability can be tolerated for a long period.

 Stocked in small amounts and purchase is based on usage estimate. e.g PCM
 Although the proportion of vital, essential and desirable items varies from hospital to
hospital depending on the type and quantity of workload.

FSN ANALYSIS - ‘fast moving, slow moving, and Non-moving’ –

Based on the consumption pattern of the items Method.

Date of receipt or last date of issue whichever is later, is taken to determine the number of
months which has lapsed since the last transaction.
Analysis - For analysis, the issuing of items in past two or three years are considered.

No issuing of item during that period- labeled ‘N’ item.

10-15 issues in that period- ‘S’ Item.

Exceeding such limits of numbers of issues during that period -‘F’ Item FSN ANALYSIS
ADVANTAGES –

 Helps to avoid investment in non-moving or slow items.

 Facilitates timely control.
 Useful in controlling obsolescence.

SDE ANALYSIS –
 ‘D’ ‘difficult’ items -which are available indigenously but are difficult items to procure.
 E’ ‘Easy’ items -easy to acquire. Readily available in the local markets
ADVANTAGES -Useful in the context of scarcity of supply

HML ANALYSIS (High, medium, low) -The basic criterion of HML classification is
the unit value of the item. Unit value is the basis of this analysis and not the annual consumption
value.

 H - Unit value > 1000 (Sanctioned by higher officials)

 M - Unit value 100 to 1000
 L - Unit value < 100

Advantages -Used to keep control over consumption at departmental level.

RESPONSIBILITY OF INVENTORY CONTROL IN WARD-

 Ward in charge
 Sub in charge
 Ward sisters

REQUISTION PROCESS IN WARD -Indent book is filled for demanding supplies Signed by
ward in- charge signed by HOD Central store drug store (medicines)

REQUISTION PROCESS IN NURSING COLLEGE -Application for demand is written by

lab in-charge Forwarded to HOD Principal Indent book is filled by store keeper of college
Principal (Central store , Medical store )
NURSES ROLE IN INVENTORY
 Keeping an adequate amount of equipment and supplies in the ward.
 Make sure that equipments and supplies are in good conditions.
 Put in a requisition for necessary equipment for repair and maintenance when needed.
 Make sure that equipments and supplies are conveniently located.
 To be observant of waste and misuse.
 To delegate someone the responsibility for handling supplies and equipment.
 Set a standard for the quantity of each item to be maintained in the ward all the time
 Responsibilities of the ward sister.
 Sufficient supply of materials.
 Materials should be in good conditions.
 Checking for misuse and how to minimize it.
 Educating the ward staffs and other health care workers in the economical use of
materials.

SUMMARY - Inventory control is the set of activities that coordinate purchasing,

manufacturing, and distribution to maximize the availability of raw materials for manufacturing
or the availability of finished goods for customers.

CONCLUSION -Careful classification of the inventory, and continuing analysis of those

classifications, can play a vital role in maintaining cost and providing quality care. Inventory
control is a constant requirement of any organization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY-
 N Anoop, kumar Chetan, K Dipak. A textbook on nursing management.1st ed.
Newdelhi:EMMESS medical publishers;p.166-68
 Vati Jogindra.Principles and practice of nursing management and administration .1st ed.
Newdelhi ; Jaypee. P.554-560
 Clement I. Management of nursing services and education .Second edition.New
Delhi;Reed Elsevier india pvt.Ltd.2016.p230-231
 Barrett Jean.ward management.konark publisher.2nd Ed. New delhi.p.146-173
 Huber Daniel l. Leadership nursing care and management.3rd Ed. New delhi:p68-
 ERA UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

ERA COLLEGE OF NURSING

ASSIGNMENT ON
INVENTORY CONTROL
SUBMITTED TO, SUBMITTED BY
Ms. Sonia Agnes Singh Ms. Nisha Yadav

Associate Professor M.SC Nursing 2nd Year

Era College of Nursing Era College of Nursing

Submitted on – 30.02.2020