04-04-2017, 11:57 AM
Inventory decisions involve a delicate balance between three kinds of costs: ordering costs, maintenance costs (also known as maintenance costs), and scarcity costs. The order costs are the costs associated with making an order, receiving and verifying the order and withdrawing the stock. These costs will be largely compounded by staff time. Maintenance costs are the costs associated with withholding an item in the inventory. These costs will be the opportunity costs of having your cash on a shelf instead of at your bank, where you could be paying the debt, paying bills or paying suppliers faster to receive better discounts. Scarcity costs are the temporary or lost sales costs due to not having the inventory available when the prescription needs to be filled.
In the pharmacy environment, the inventory refers to all medications and medical supplies used in the daily operation of a pharmacy. Inventory management comprises a large part of the responsibilities of the pharmacy technician. It is essential to ensure that there is an adequate stock of medicines and supplies to meet the needs of patients served by a pharmacy and careful inventory management can also increase the profitability of a pharmacy. The level of involvement of pharmacy technicians in inventory management varies depending on the facility and can range from basic ordering and replenishment in a retail pharmacy to purchasing and maintaining inventory of all medications for a hospital. Despite the variety in the level of responsibility and location-specific considerations, the general principles of pharmacy inventory management remain the same. This course will review basic inventory management terminology and procedures for the pharmacy technician.