Looking at a process, wherever it may be, becomes clearer with observation. Materials Management (MM) was receiving an increased number of calls for urgent supply orders from the Emergency Department (ED) even though their supply rooms were being restocked daily. It would have been easy to assume that the par levels were set too low and the solution would be to increase the par levels.  However, during our observation, we discovered that it was actually a timing issue.  The ED staff was restocking their rooms and carts after the supply room was restocked which depleted the supplies out of the supply room. We worked with the ED Manager to adjust the time that the rooms and carts were restocked so that the carts and rooms were filled before MM refilled the Supply Room. As a result, this simple adjustment decreased the amount of urgent calls from an average of three per day to zero. In addition, the number of each type of supply needed on a daily basis has become significantly more accurate.

It is because we went and observed what was happening, assessed the process and worked together to find a solution, we were able to ensure supplies were available for staff and customers and decreased the time that MM and ED staff were using to fill urgent supply orders.

Christine Christiansen and John Young, Materials Management