ABSTRACT
Coordination in Pharmacy ................................................. 116 5.4 Practical Solutions for Inventory Management of Pharmaceuticals
in Hospitals ................................................................................................... 118 5.4.1 Traditional Operations in Hospital Pharmacies ................................ 118 5.4.2 Current Management Trends and Operations in Pharmacy SCM .... 119
5.4.2.1 Outsourcing ........................................................................ 119 5.4.2.2 VMI .................................................................................... 119 5.4.2.3 IT-Based Inventory Management Solutions ....................... 120
A recent visit to a local emergency room (ER) motivated one of the coauthors to literally investigate the crucial element of supply chain management (SCM) within the healthcare system. After experiencing eight hours of delays in the ER waiting room and witnessing incredible lags in the medication dispensing process and even further impediments to the delivery of treatment modalities, the researcher became outraged with the thought of a high-performing healthcare system’s lack of better supply chain management and service delivery. As a healthcare consumer, this scenario is likely to happen to all of us.
