How Technology closes a gap between Supply Chain and Clinicians

In the bustling environment of hospitals, clinicians and nurses face daily challenges that stretch beyond patient care, encompassing the need for efficient management of medical supplies and equipment. The adaptation of logistics software in hospitals promises not only to bridge the gap between clinical care and supply chain management but also to significantly improve the working conditions and efficiency of healthcare professionals.

Clinical Staff often find themselves in the middle of logistical challenges—scrambling for medical supplies, dealing with inventory shortages, or navigating through poorly managed supply chains that hinder their primary focus: patient care. Integrating advanced logistics software into hospital operations can transform these everyday challenges into streamlined processes.

However, when it comes to hospital supply chain operations, there have been some legitimate barriers to overcome in implementing new technologies. These implementations require the engagement and leadership of many diverse departments and a commitment of human and capital resources, which often become a real challenge to secure.

Furthermore, the overwhelming number of duties the staff has to attend to to be able to administer excellent patient care, leaves little to no room for training of a new software or workflow and therefore creates an excessive attachment to the status quo, which might not be the best way of doing things but it’s something familiar.

If Hospital Management is willing to allocate part of their resources in the short term to bring in new technologies able to automate some procedures and produce accurate documentation, in the long term they will benefit from better patient care and increased profits from their better reputation.

The Healthcare supply chain and the work of clinical staff are interdependent: suppliers trust clinicians to collect clinical product usage so that they can send invoices and replenish their inventory. And clinicians rely on suppliers to receive the products they need on time and safe to use (not expired or recalled) to treat patients.

Cloud-based applications like SOx, are able to provide accurate and real time supply-chain information for all the players involved, ensuring full visibility and trackability, from ordering to receiving to tracking to documenting supplies and implants at the point of care.

When products are readily available and straightforward to identify and access, it reduces the time spent searching for them, minimizes trips to the supply rooms, and enhances the staff’s satisfaction while reducing burnout. This efficiency leads to a markedly improved experience for patients.

While the interoperability of supply chain management and clinical work can be seen as a real obstacle in an analogue world, it creates amazing opportunities to improve patient care with the implementation of new interconnected solutions such as SOx.