Receiving-to-Patient Hospital Supply Chain Digitalization

Investigators: Profs. Ronald Rardin, Nebil Buyurgan, and Craig Thompson and Students Angelica Burbano, Josh Eno, and Behlul Saka


The Challenge: Medical and surgical material handling from hospital receiving to the point of care is often fragmented, low tech, and ad hoc. This leads to inconsistent procurement and inventory control on the floors/wings, including unnecessary stockouts, outdates/obsolescence, and excessive staff time spent foraging for materials.
 



 


Proposal: Investigate how similar digital technologies can be cost-effectively adapted to automate dock-to-patient material tracking and inventory management.


Expected Outcomes:
  • Identification and review of best practices and counterpart technologies, including costs, effectiveness, and barriers to wider adoption.
  • Predictive modeling and analysis, including process maps, to compare candidate innovations in anticipation of recommended pilot implementation.