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Materials Management Department at BBGH essential to work flow

Materials Management Department staff includes: kneeling – Shirley DeVoogd; standing – l-r: Linda Johnson, Carolyn Marlatt, Dee Lewis, Keisha Sanchez, Chastity Werner and Vickie Hartley.

Think of the Materials Management Department at Box Butte General Hospital as the vascular system in a human body. Each organ (be it the heart, kidneys, lungs, etc.) is essential to the overall health of the body as a whole, but the vascular system is what provides the nutrients to everything. If it ceases to function properly, everything else eventually falls apart.

“I’d be the first to tell you we’re just part of what makes this hospital successful,” said Materials Management Department Manager Carolyn Marlatt. “Every department has its function and needs to work well with other departments in  a team effort. But I can guarantee you that if something happened where none of our staff was available over any given day; things would start to grind to a halt.”

The Materials Management Department has the second largest budget for the hospital, eclipsed only by the payroll and benefits budget. “That’s pretty understandable if you had to stock nearly 5,000 items, and ordered an average of 200 non-stock items (material not kept in inventory) each month,” commented Purchasing Specialist Linda Johnson. “We stock everything from complete hip replacement kits to rubber bands; procedural testing items to batteries.”

“And that doesn’t include the non-stock items people may need on a more irregular basis,” Ms. Marlatt added.

 

Materials Management Department staff member Vickie Hartley is shown here re-stocking the Patient Care Unit Omnicell. Omnicell items needing to be replaced are restocked twice daily.

Keeping track and making sure the right item is delivered to the right place is routine for the five full time, one half time and 1 prn employees working in Materials Management. “We have to keep our Omnicell units consistently and accurately supplied each day,” she said. Omnicells are automated point-of-use systems for hospital supply chain management. With medical supplies accounting for 30-40% of a hospital’s total costs, nearly every healthcare facility in the nation uses Omnicells or a similar product to keep those costs down; accurately and safely provide medical supplies to the designated patient; and for precisely capturing charges for reimbursement. “The Pharmacy Department takes it a step further by using bar codes,” Ms. Johnson explained. “If a patient’s name or number is entered and care giver tried to open a draw that didn’t match the medication designated for that patient, the drawer doesn’t open,” Ms. Marlatt explained. The Omnicells give an electronic report to Materials Management several times each day of how many items were used and the number of items are left in stock in the Omnicell. “Let’s say an Omnicell has six patient gowns listed as a full inventory for that item,” Ms. Johnson said. “Each time a gown is checked out for a patient, the care giver hits a button indicating that item has been removed making counting of each item every day unnecessary. We have lists generated by the Omnicell that tells us what items are getting low. If the system is used correctly, we receive accurate information.”

Materials Management Department staff member Keisha Sanchez restocking a Kanban located in the Emergency Department. Kanban items are restocked once each day.

“On top of that, we do a daily inventory on all 25 of our Kanbans,” she continued. Kanban is a scheduling system for “LEAN” and just-in-time (JIT) production. Kanban was developed by Taiichi Ohno, at Toyota, as a system to improve and maintain a high level of production. Kanban is one method to achieve JIT.  The core idea of LEAN is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. Simply, LEAN means creating more value for customers with fewer resources. A LEAN organization understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The ultimate goal is to provide perfect value to the customer through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste.

“The use of LEAN was started at BBGH around five to six years ago,” Ms. Marlatt said. “Using LEAN and the Kanban system means other departments don’t have to keep track of what items they are short of or items that may have passed their due date. We do that for them, with our staff doing rounds every day to check each Kanban for inventory and use by dates. Every department that has had a Kanban installed finds them to be an invaluable source.”

Materials Management also builds, maintains information, and distributes over thirty procedural kits ranging from an Admit kit to a Total Joint Replacement kit.  Kits are built according to user preference and vary from as few as four items to as many as twenty five items per kit. Kits save the user time and improve accuracy.  Rather than having to check out each individual item for a certain procedure, the user can hit one button on the system and have a flat charge for all supplies needed.  This also saves time on the billing end as well.

Taking on all the duties assigned to Materials Management comes down to one goal. “Our department’s primary goal is to do what is best for the staff in other departments so they can serve and provide the best care possible for the patients. We don’t want them to have to worry about supplies. Using the systems we have in place, they don’t have to worry about stock on hand … they know the supplies will be there when they need it.”

She added that having the ability to change operations/procedures when needed is key to fulfilling the department’s main goal. The Materials Management Department is under the wing of Chief Financial Officer Tracy Jatczak. “Tracy is very willing to let us be innovative in our department practices,” Ms. Marlatt concluded. “She doesn’t try to micromanage us, which has allowed us the freedom to grow and improve our service to all members of Box Butte General Hospital.”

Asked what she loves most about her job, Ms. Johnson said, “I love the challenge and the fact that it’s never boring. I never know what’s going to happen each day. Some days it’s absolutely crazy, but each day flies by so fast. I love doing research on products and finding better prices for products (essentially you have to love shopping on line).”

Ms. Marlatt said she enjoys, “the fact that we can keep improving and keep changing to find better ways to take care of the staff so they can take care of the patient. I learn something every day. We have to be on top of things such as vendor contracts, user preferences, metrics, pricing, ordering, keeping track of inventory and units of measure.  I have to say, I think our department is one of the busiest in the hospital. Our staff has a daily huddle to go over what was done the previous day and come up with solutions to any inefficiencies we may have encountered, and plan ahead for the day in front of us. There’s never a boring moment down here (Materials Management is located in the basement of the current facility).”  We are a close team.  We are aware of each other’s needs and step in when one of us needs assistance.  I have the highest regard for my team and each member’s unique talents and contributions to our department.

Asked what the least enjoyable part of their job was, both immediately replied, “Inventory.”  While spot inventories are part of the daily routine, the year-end inventory counts and reconciliation takes place over a one to two week period. “We have to count and make sure the tallies for the year add up. Not exactly a fun time for our staff,” Ms. Marlatt concluded with a smile.

Box Butte General Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer.