Risk Assessment and Management of Drug Inventory in Hospitals during COVID-19 Pandemic in Taiwan

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the suspension of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) production in China, the source of the global largest medication supply chain, resulting in the potential risks of hospital insufficient drug stocks affecting clinical treatment. If all drug inventory of the hospital increased, the short-term drug shortage risk can be reduced, but the inventory costs will be increased. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish a risk assessment mechanism for inventory management of APIs from China, to identify the medical priorities affected by drug shortages, and to plan different countermeasures to achieve the best effect of inventory management. Methods In this study, the tables of "Incidence of Drug Shortage" and "Impact Level of Drug Shortage" related to the risk of drug inventory were developed, which were evaluated in four levels respectively, and "Drug Shortage Risk Assessment Matrix" was designed according to the probability of drug shortage and impact according to the model data of Reproductive Number (R0) value and pandemic prediction. Each drug requiring APIs from China was evaluated and ranked according to the hazard index, so as to increase the different inventory and to find alternatives. Results We have evaluated the inventory risk level of drugs requiring APIs from China through the risk assessment mechanism, and increased the different backup stock according to the levels. The total increasing purchase amount was NTD 4.85 million, which could reduce the stock cost by about 2/3 compared with NTD 14.61 million of the total inventories for three months. Conclusions The study shows that there are significant differences between scientific inventory management and general method during COVID-19 pandemic. It can provide a reliable reference for other hospitals to adjust drug stocks in the face of other emerging infectious diseases or major emergencies by using the innovative mechanism.

Evaluasi Persediaan Obat Covid-19 Pada Masa Pandemi Dan Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Di Rumah Sakit Pemerintah Dan Rumah Sakit Swasta Di Kota Makassar

“…Di RS Swasta mengalami waktu yang cukup lama untuk kedatangan obat COVID-19 seperti Remdesivir yaitu seminggu hingga 3 bulan. Hal ini sejalan dengan penelitian yang dilakukan di Rumah Sakit Universitas Kaohsiung Medical ada 90 obat dari Cina, berisiko kekurangan obat dalam waktu tiga bulan karena terlambatnya pasokan obat yang dibutuhkan 11 . Oleh sebab itu, pihak rumah sakit segera mulai mencari obat alternatif.…”

Role of Stocktaking Application using Barcode Scanning in Improving Stock Conformity in Hospital Pharmacy Installation

“…activities in the hospital pharmacy installation. This activity aims to obtain the actual physical stock of all item drugs in the pharmacy (10,15,16). The inaccurate results of the stocktaking at GSM hospital are minimized by the stocktaking application using barcode scanning.…”

Development of sustainable and resilient healthcare and non-cold pharmaceutical distribution supply chain for COVID-19 pandemic: a case study

“…Rather than all difficulties generated by disruption of supply chains for the customers' common daily life products, disruption of pharmaceutical/healthcare distribution chains may endanger human lives (Badreldin and Atallah, 2021). In other words, the suspension of pharmaceutical industry production during the coronavirus pandemic, an increase in demand, the pharmaceutical/healthcare products shortage and insufficient pharmaceutical/healthcare stock in hospitals could negatively impact the clinical treatment (Lee et al, 2020). Analyzing the supply chain operations over a multi-period horizon for the rescue kits during disasters was conducted to minimize the total tardiness of product delivery under demand uncertainty (Song et al, 2018).…”