During this erupting COVID-19 crisis, hospitals are – or are expected to be – overwhelmed by exploding demand. This demand will vary literally day to day. Thus it is difficult to determine what medical supplies, equipment, and devices you will need. Let alone find a provider for secure medical supply storage.
Hospitals and staff will need an exponentially larger quantity of secure medical supplies and equipment (ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE), test kits, nasal swabs) to care for their patients, doctors, nurses, medical support and administrative staff.
This expectation has sent hospital administrators scrambling to manage their last-mile, just-in-time supply chain. To fight COVID-19, hospitals are receiving stockpiles of medical supplies and equipment on their docks. However, where are they going to put all these supplies? Most healthcare facilities simply don’t have the capacity to receive large bulk quantities of medical supplies. Especially now, during this time of crisis, when space is even more limited.
Two areas of the supply chain are key when managing the fluctuating demands of medical supplies during the pandemic:
- Scalable secure medical supply storage that offers staff quick, virtual options for ordering
- Last mile delivery
Secure Medical Supply Storage
During the COVID crisis, it is invaluable that a hospital has a storage facility or provider that can receive medical supplies to store and deliver when the hospitals need it. This storage provider should be able to receive your medical supplies, pick from your inventory, pack them and deliver to your facility when you need it. This helps you to better match the supply to the demand as well as to control and manage inventory costs.
A web-based inventory portal can be critical to managing this process. Particularly for those supplies that are needed daily, like IV connectors, IV bags, gowns, face masks and face shields. This also allows your staff to create a pick list of the items needed and schedule a delivery time directly from your secure inventory portal.
Last Mile Delivery
As the pandemic wears on, equipment manufacturers are facing huge challenges to ensure they are delivering medical equipment as quickly and efficiently as possible. Hospitals are staffing for medical workers and not necessarily for warehouse and dock workers. Consequently, hospitals are facing long wait times unload their shipments. This in addition to the shortage of storage space to store it all.
Often overlooked is the right last mile storage and logistics plan. This can significantly impact a hospital’s COVID-19 response. JK Moving Services is the leading logistics and storage provider for hospitals and laboratories. Let us help you with your COVID-19 response.