Inventory Management Practices and Supply Chain Performance of Antiretroviral Medicines in Public Hospitals in Nyamira County, Kenya

BackgroundUnreliable supply systems have plagued the provision of an uninterrupted supply of life- saving medicines in many developing countries, with antiretroviral (ARV) medicines having the worst repercussions.ObjectiveTo identify the inventory management practices used, evaluate the supply chain performance, and determine the challenges affecting inventory management of ARV medicines in public hospitals.MethodsThe study used a descriptive cross-sectional design, gathering snapshot data on inventory management practices happening in all the 8 public hospitals across Nyamira County. Data collection was done using structured questionnaires, key informant interviews, checklists and data from the national health information system.ResultsThe response rate was 97.3% for the questionnaires and 100% for the key informant interviews. The prevailing inventory management practices were: use of scheduled inventory control model (80.95%), forecasting demand using previous consumption data (100%), keeping accurate and updated stock records for each commodity (92.31%), having essential logistical data in reports (100%), including safety stock (61.54%) when ordering and keeping ARV medicines in dedicated stores (75%). With the exception of order lead time (17.98 days), the other supply chain performance metrics namely stock out rate (52.12%), stock wastage rate (43.2%), and reporting rates (70.84%) were found to be deficient. The challenges mostly affecting inventory management included inadequate staff and training, lack of proper storage, and unreliable supply of medicines.ConclusionInventory management practices were according to the recommended best approaches despite various challenges. The supply chain performance metrics evaluated, with the exception of order lead time, were all found to be unsatisfactory owing to the high stock out rates, below par reporting rates and high stock wastage rate due to expiries discovered. Adoption of an electronic inventory system, use of data for decision making, dedicated storage of ARV medicines, and inclusion of buffer stock, are some strategies to improve inventory management.Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2021;4(2): 257-268

Using Interactive Visual Analytics to Optimize in Real-Time Blood Products Inventory at a Blood Bank

Blood products and their derivatives are perishable commodities that require an efficient inventory management to ensure both a low wastage rate and a high product availability rate. To optimize blood product inventory, blood transfusion services need to reduce wastage by avoiding outdates and improve availability of different blood products. We used advance visualization techniques to design and develop a highly interactive real-time web-based dashboard to monitor the blood product inventory and the on-going blood unit transactions in near-real-time based on analysis of transactional data. Blood transfusion staff use the dashboard to locate units with specific characteristics, investigate the lifecycle of the units, and efficiently transfer units between facilities to minimize outdates.

Frequency of ABO Blood Groups and RhD Factor in Donors of District Nowshera

To screen the donors for the frequency of different blood groups, reason for deferral and comparative analysis of the donation in two consecutive years in the blood bank of Qazi Hussian Ahmed Medical Complex Nowshera, a cross sectional study was carried out from April 25, 2017 to May 5, 2019. A total of 3,429 donors were included in the study. The mean age of donors with standard deviation was 35+ 3.24 years. Three thousand eighteen (88%) of the donors were males. The distribution of RhD+ and RhD- blood groups was 89.90% and 10.09% respectively. The frequency of ‘RhD+ blood groups in target population’ was B: 1226 (35.75%), O: 807 (23.53%), A: 754 (22%) and AB: 296 (8.63%). The frequency of ‘Rh Negative blood groups’ was: B: 139 (4.05%), O: 95 (2.77%), A:84 (2.45%) and AB: 28 (0.82%). The packed cell wastage rate in our blood bank was 185 (5.4%). The donor deferral rate was 0.7%. Hepatitis B Virus was the major cause of deferral that was reported in 14 cases followed by HCV Virus in 13 cases. It was concluded that the frequency of ‘Rh-positive blood group’ was B,O,A and AB respectively. Blood Group B was noted in 35% of the donors that counted to be the major prevalent Rh positive blood group in our population. Regarding the Rh Negative blood group, again the frequency was B,O,A and AB. Blood group B- was prevalent as a major negative blood group in our population that was recorded in 4.05% cases. The seroprevalence of hepatitis in the donors was 0.7%.

Utilisation of blood products at a centre in Pakistan. Is donating better than wasting?

The study was designed to investigate the quantity and reasons of wastage of blood products. This was an observational study conducted from February 2018 to February 2019 at the National Institute of Blood Disease and Bone Marrow Transplantation (NIBD and BMT), PECHS campus. The study was approved by the institutional review board. Wastage and reasons of wastage for all the blood products were evaluated. Frequencies were calculated by using SPSS version 23.0. A total of 2,880 bags of blood products were available, including 960 each of platelets, packed red cells and fresh frozen plasma. The overall wastage rate was 3.5%. Packed red cells and platelets were fully consumed, yet shortage of supply was observed. However, highest wastage was observed in fresh frozen plasma i.e. 102 bags. Expiry of unused products 60 (59%) followed by broken bags 30 (29%) were two common modes of wastage. Continuous...

A Study on Attrition Management in Private Sector Financial Institutions - A Special Reference to Kottayam District in Kerala

Attrition is known as total turnover or wastage rate. The high rate of attrition is harmful to business. Attrition is happening due to various reasons such as higher pay, work timings, Career growth, Higher education, Relocation to other places; Women leave the job after marriage to take up their household duties, Work pressure, work environment, Poor performance, losing faith on merger/acquisition, verbal abuse, family problems, etc. While charting out a future course of action in private-sector financial institutions has strategic management for understanding the reasons for attrition. Attrition can be reduced to a great extent if the management takes initiative for introducing various policies for the efficient management of attrition. Attrition is a universal problem, and every organization should strive to trickle this problem for the future. The primary aim of this research is to find out the reasons behind the high rate of attrition in private-sector financial institutions. The data was collected with the help of a questionnaire to the sample of employees of private-sector financial institutions in Kottayam district, Kerala. This study can give more information about the area of problem and thus help the management to identify the reason for the problem of the high rate of attrition and to take corrective measures. As a conclusion to the study, attrition is one of the major problems faced by the human resource department of private-sector financial institutions. The research study has been conducted, and the set objectives of the work have fully accomplished, and the analysis performed to the maximum extent possible. The high rate of attrition is harmful to financial institutions, and it also affects the goodwill of the company. The poor performance of an employee is the main reason for attrition. It can be controlled by giving more training and reasonable care while selecting, hiring, and recruiting the right person at the right place.

Impact of the Mutual Health Insurance on the Staff Medical Care of the University of Kisangani

Introduction: The creation of the Mutual Health Insurance within the University of Kisangani is justified by the deterioration of the country's socio-economic situation, with unfortunate consequences for the sectors of life, with a view to improving the provision of medical care. To carry out this study successfully, we have set ourselves the following objectives: Check the evolution of the number of members of the mutual during the study period, identify the diseases that have required a lot of resources from the mutual during the four years of study, determine the professional category most assisted by the mutual's coverage and highlight the differences in the contribution of members by professional category. Methodology: This is a retrospective descriptive study of the various cases of medical coverage of Kisangani University staff by the Mutual Health Insurance during the period 2014 to 2017. For this study, we worked with a comprehensive sample, i.e. the entire study population estimated at 1,432 adherent members, taking into account all their monthly contributions during the period 2014 to 2017. It was carried out thanks to the documentary analysis and the interview. Results: The number of members of the mutual health insurance scheme was 1,311 in 2017, compared to 1,432 when it was created, i.e. a wastage rate of 8.44%. The Mutual Health Insurance of the University of Kisangani had produced 277,248,600 Congolese francs from membership fees. In addition, the professional category most assisted by the Mutual Health Insurance of the University of Kisangani is mainly composed of Administrative, Technical and Labour Staff with 1,217 cases out of a total of 1,432 expected members, or 84.9%. Finally, malaria was the disease most commonly observed with recurrence during the period studied, with a total of 285 cases or 77.2%.

Assessment of vaccine wastage in an immunization clinic of a tertiary care hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal

Background: Universal Immunization Programme was launched by Government of India in 1985 with the aim of immunizing all children and pregnant women across the country free of cost. However high vaccine wastage and lack of proper vaccine management could not meet the demand and increased the cost.Methods: A descriptive record based study was conducted in the immunization clinic of KPC Medical College and Hospital. Vaccination records of all children and pregnant women attending clinic from 1st July 2018 to 30th June 2019 was retrieved from the immunization registers.Results: Wastage rate was found to be highest for bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine vaccine (68.9%) and lowest for oral polio vaccine (27.7%). Wastage rate was higher for 10 dose vial vaccine compared to 5 dose vial and 20 dose vial vaccine and the differences were statistically significant (p<0.00001).The wastage rate was higher for lyophilized vaccine compared to liquid vaccine and for injectable vaccine compared to oral vaccine. These differences were also statistically significant (p<0.00001).Conclusions: Thus regular monitoring of immunization sessions should be done to estimate the vaccine wastage in each session. Reducing wastage is expected to increase the quality and efficiency of the programme and also reduce the cost without compromising the coverage.

Blood Components Management: An Analysis on the Blood Transfusion Medicine in Zabol, Sistan and Baluchistan Province of Iran

Introduction: Blood components are commonly used during surgical operations; however, limited sources are globally available in this regard. The present study aimed to assess blood product usage and wastage in Amir-Almomenin hospital, Zabol, Iran. Methods: A total of3883 ordered blood components were retrospectively analyzed in AmirAlmomenin hospital, Zabol, Iran (January) 2017-(July)2018. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software, version 18. Results: The results demonstrated that the most frequent ordered blood products included packed red blood cells (PRBCs, 2097 units, 54%), followed by fresh frozen plasma (823 units, 21.2%), platelet concentrates (757 units, 19.5%), and cryoprecipitate (206 units, 5.2%), respectively. Intensive care unit department had the highest records of orders (34.2%) and the ratio of crossmatched blood to transfused blood (C/T) was 1.73. In addition, based on the results, the total amount of component wastage was 2.03% with the highest and lowest percentage for PRBCs (59.6%) and cryoprecipitate (4.35%), respectively. The highest rate of wastage was related to the delivery ward (8.23%). There was no return from pediatrics, dialysis, pediatric critical care unit, critical care unit, and gastroenterology wards. Further, a significant difference was observed between the returned rates of D-positive and D-negative blood components with higher rates belonging to D-negative products (P=0.001). Conclusion: In general, due to the 2.03% wastage rate, there is an indispensable need regarding implementing sufficient supervision and assigning vigilant policies on the hospital-based transfusion policies in order to optimize the blood product management.

Adapting Engineering Education to Industry 4.0 Vision

Industry 4.0 is originally a future vision described in the high-tech strategy of the German government that is conceived upon information and communication technologies like Cyber-Physical Systems, Internet of Things, Physical Internet, and Internet of Services to achieve a high degree of flexibility in production (individualized mass production), higher productivity rates through real-time monitoring and diagnosis, and a lower wastage rate of material in production. An important part of the tasks in the preparation for Industry 4.0 is the adaption of the higher education to the requirements of this vision, in particular the engineering education. In this work, we introduce a road map consisting of three pillars describing the changes/enhancements to be conducted in the areas of curriculum development, lab concept, and student club activities. We also report our current application of this road map at the Turkish German University, Istanbul.