Monthly checks for expired items can be time consuming - additionally, having to discard expired items, particularly those that have never even been opened, is wasteful and costly.
In additional to being certain to restock new supplies BEHIND present supplies, I have created a system using simple colored sticker dots to indicate amount of time left before expiration. I use green dots for items that have more than one year before expiration, blue for items 6 months to a year, yellow for 3 - 6 months and red for 1 - 3 months. I also put a red sticker in a visible location as an additional alert.
This not only alerts me to the fact that an item is close to expiration, it also helps remind providers to use the older ones first.
Since implementing this system, I have observed that less items are needing to be discarded due to expiration dates.
While this might not provide a huge cost saving it will however help decrease the amount of items that must be discarded when, with a little effort, they might be used before expiration.
Even if not a winner, do hope this idea is helpful.
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Great idea!Not being part of
Great idea!
Not being part of this procedural area, I'm not sure if this is done yet, but one could even imagine going a step further. By monitoring the proportion of expired items we can also get a sense of the needed inventory. An item that consistently has a high proportion of expired items, likely needs a smaller inventory, or perhaps could even be phased out if there is an alternative option.
For example. Surgical mesh comes in nearly 80 different types. While many of the types serve different purposes, some of the variation comes from the size of the mesh. While it seems cost effective initially to stock all 5 types of mesh, if one size is constantly expiring, that perhaps it is actually more cost effective to stock the large size and cut it down, or to use two of the smaller size.
This thoughtful strategy can cut down on our waste from expired items.
Michelle Mourad, MD