How to Properly Manage Your Medical Supplies

Managing your medical supplies is honestly a never-ending type of job. There is always something to do, and there is a need for constant monitoring to stay up to date with all your stock. You will need to keep up with all your orders, know when certain items are due to arrive and know if anything happens to be on backorder. It truly never ends. We can guarantee that it is a difficult job with many unique challenges. However, there are a few things you can do to ensure that the burden is not as heavy as it could be.

Here are just a few tips to help make managing your medical supplies just a little bit easier.

Have a system in place

No one wants to use a medical kit that is haphazardly thrown together. We want to see and use something that has some form of organization. You should have a specified spot for each piece of equipment in your medical kit, and you should have labels clearly written out to keep better track of where things go. You could even have written instructions to go with each piece in their specified spot. This would help people know the where and the how in one fell swoop, which can help someone who has to use your medical kit in an emergency. Many of us may find ourselves a little flustered when something dramatic happens and know where a piece of equipment is located and seeing the instructions on how to use it right there with it can be a lifesaver for most of us.

Keep all items in your medical kit in one close space

You do not want to have your medical kit spread out all over the place. You need to keep everything in one specified close knit area. If there is an emergency, you do not want to run all over the place grabbing items from everywhere to tend to the victim. You need to keep it confined to one area and have as little distance between items as possible. Also, most of the time during an emergency you will need multiple items to tend to victims. It is also in your best interest to keep items together to help you know what you actually have in stock. Many products that get misplaced are thought to be out of stock and can easily get reordered. This can lead to overspending and overstock an item. Both of which can lead to unnecessary waste.

Get familiar with your medical kit

You should get to know every item in your medical kit and how to properly use it. There are many items that have really specific instructions, and you do not want to mishandle these items in any way. If you do happen to misuse an item, it could easily go to waste or even do more harm than good. For example, some products have to stay sterile prior to use, and if you take them out of the package, they may come in contact with germs, bacteria, etc. that could cause an infection or worse. Therefore, the best way to take care of your patient and control any unnecessary waste is to ensure that you know how to properly use every item in your medical kit.

Properly store your medical supplies

You do not want to leave any type of medical supplies out in the open. They can become tainted or deteriorate, which can render them useless. For most types of medical supplies, the best way to store them would be in durable containers. Most of the items in your medical kit are not meant to be stored in the boxes that they are shipped in. These boxes would not be the best option to keep your supplies. You would want to keep them in containers that would keep them dry and clean. Also, you would want to look for clear containers to help you identify what is in each container. These containers would keep your supplies safe and clean, and they would also allow everyone to easily locate the item they are looking for and help keep your inventory in check.

Create a simple inventory system

A medical kit is of no use if the products are not kept in stock. This means you will need to have some type of inventory system, and for most of us, we hate doing anything that is too difficult. Unfortunately, we can easily make keeping track of our medical kit difficult. Please do not make this harder than it has to be. In today’s technology based world, you could easily keep track of your medical supply inventory. You could use an app on your cellphone to keep track of what you have used and what you need to order. Try to keep any inventory system easy and simple, and, of course, you should experiment with a few different types and find the one that works best for you.

Keep track of your orders

An inventory system will not work unless you keep track of your orders, so keeping track of your orders is a must needed step. You will need to ensure that you are not over ordering and flooding your medical kit with multiple unneeded and unwanted supplies. The cost could easily skyrocket. You will need to have specific and strict ordering guidelines to ensure that you do not go over your budget. You will also need to keep track of how long it will take for your orders to arrive and be aware of any possible back orders. You do not want your medical kit to be missing any necessary items for even a short period of time.

Managing your medical kit is a hard and never-ending job. However, for anyone that has to use your medical kit, it will be well worth it. And, by following some of these tips, hopefully, it will not be as hard of a job as you think.