The drug inventories evaluation of healthcare facilities using ABC and VED analyzes

Abstract

“Always Better Control” (ABC) and “Vital Essential Desirable” (VED) are widely used methods for controlling drug inventories.The purpose of this study is to contribute to the optimal level of drug storage for the hospital by evaluating the annual amountsspent on drugs with (ABC) and (VED). By this means, it is aimed to reduce inventory costs to an optimum level. In this study,drug consumption data of a private hospital operating in Istanbul for 2016 was used. Based on the annual unit consumptionand the unit costs of 910 medicines, the total annual expenditure for each drug was calculated and drugs were ranked inincreasing order according to this calculation. Drugs that accounted for 70% of the total drug expenditure were classified asCategory A, 20% were classified as Category B, and 10% were classified as Category C. The (VED) analysis was conducted withthree pharmacologists and drugs were classified according to their degree of vital importance as category “Vital (V)”, “Essential(E)” and “Desirable (D)”. Then, the data were combined with the (ABC-VED) matrix in three separate categories. Accordingto a ABC analysis, 70.08% of this expenditure consists of 46 drugs (A), 19.88% of 92 drugs (B) and 10.04% of 772 drugs (C).According to the (VED) analysis, it has been determined that 265 drugs are in category “V”, 467 drugs in “E” and 178 drugs in“D”. According to the (ABC-VED) matrix, there are 298 drugs in the first category, 446 drugs in the second category and 163drugs in the third category. Consequently, these analyzes will contribute to management especially in determining the safetystock levels of drugs that constitute a significant part of the total expenditure.