Department Upgrades

Who:

Naval Command Overseas
US Naval Ship
Holyloch, Scotland

When: August 1986

What: The ship's medical needed to undergo an annual medical readiness inspection, which would count towards the ship's overall Battle Efficiency Award.

The Challenge: The Department was continually running out of medical supplies, including pharmaceuticals; adequate storeroom stock levels were nonexistent, and expired drugs were being disposed of, wasting taxpayer money. The medical inspection notwithstanding, the department's medical supply section required an overall of process and procedures to ensure patient safety, and its overall readiness was top rate.

The Solution: Analyzed and identified a lack of accounting of supplies and a low status of readiness. Initiated a department reorganization, including wall-to-wall inventories, implementation of a ‘minimum’, ‘safe’, and ‘high’ level stocking syste,m as well as purchase and receipt of all supplies and equipment to meet just-in-time demands.

The Result: Department recognized and awarded for its record-high supply readiness status and monies saved by setting up controls that reduced the waste from expired pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies.