The more organized, tracked and managed a hospital’s assets are, the better are their healthcare facilities and operations. Healthcare establishments harbor a diverse number of assets. From small medical disposables to large machinery and infrastructure, these resources must be efficiently managed to ensure smooth day-to-day activities. If such assets are not properly taken care of they can result in stifled hospital operations.
In order to provide patients with the best healthcare and prevent hospital activities from faltering, a reliable asset management strategy must be employed. The best way to track, monitor and regulate hospital inventory and operations is by using a healthcare asset management software solution.
Read on to know how asset management software applications in hospitals play a major role in optimizing and enhancing workflows.
What is hospital asset management
Assets that are employed and used on a frequent basis in hospitals help administration and medical workers efficiently carry out healthcare activities. The most commonly used assets are:
- IT assets
- Medical inventory assets
- Equipment assets
- Infrastructure assets
- Vehicle assets
- Furniture assets
The quality of these resources determine the pace at which hospitals can function. Unmaintained, neglected assets translate to higher repair costs, delay in workflow and more. The systematic management of assets in terms of their location, financial value, physical condition and life-cycle is known as asset management.
Right from when hospital assets are acquired and restocked on shelves or installed on premise, they must regularly be checked and serviced. This ensures that they are ready for use whenever they are required. Implementing an effective hospital asset tracking solution helps keep a comprehensive account of assets.
Benefits of hospital asset management
By implementing a powerful asset management strategy, hospital operations can be significantly enhanced. Benefits include:
- Reduced financial expenditure
- Increased savings
- Optimized asset usage
- Increased reliability
- Compliance with regulatory norms
- Improved productivity
- Efficient auditing
- Enhanced budget planning
- Well-maintained assets and more.
With the benefits of managing assets in hospitals covered, a common question that can arise at this point is what asset management solution should be used and which is the best? The correct answer is a hospital asset management software. If your answer was spreadsheets, then here’s why they don’t make good asset management solutions.
Drawbacks of Manual Asset Management
The use of manual asset tracking tools such as paper-based methods and spreadsheets is quickly declining, and for a good reason. Although they can help in tracking and managing assets, they fall short in several features. Their limitations not only prevent hospitals from realizing their full working potential, but can also hamper on their existing workflows.
Tracking assets manually means frequent manual data entries. Mistakes in entry details such as typos can cause a lot of confusion when asset records are reviewed. Moreover, navigating through extensively large databases to modify and update information is a risky and time-consuming process. It also raises the chances of overseeing crucial information and forgetting to enter asset details.
As manual asset tracking tools perform poorly when it comes to auditing assets, hospitals that use this method to manage their assets may end up paying for assets that don’t exist in the inventory, known as ghost assets. The best alternative to the caveats of manual asset management tools is to employ a healthcare asset management software.
Hospital and healthcare asset management software
Hospital asset tracking applications are software suites that help monitor, track, transfer, allocate and dispose of assets at the right time. They contain several features that make managing assets a simple and effortless process. Be it tangible or intangible assets, these software applications can efficiently track and categorically log them in the software’s database.
Using a healthcare asset tracking solution, several hospital assets can be monitored and properly maintained. The following resources can be seamlessly managed:
- Hospital beds
- Parking
- Hospital staff
- Condition of medical equipment
- Wards
- Medical inventory
- Furniture
- Computers, IT peripherals and software
- Shuttle vehicles and ambulances
Asset management software applications have an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. They benefit both hospital employees and administrators as they can view what is available in the inventory, where assets are, how the hospital is performing and more. These functions are facilitated by the software’s features.
Features of hospital asset management software
- Barcode technology – Stick unique printable barcodes onto assets. Scan them using barcode scanners whenever they change locations or are serviced to efficiently log asset details.
- Cloud technology enabled – Regular backups of asset records are created on a cloud server. These records can be accessed from anywhere at any time.
- Asset management tools – Easily add, remove, transfer, allocate and dispose of assets with powerful programs.
- Service and maintenance schedules – Seamlessly create regular service schedules to ensure that the hospital’s assets are in the best condition at all times.
- Effective auditing – Know exactly what is available in your inventory and what is not available by scanning barcodes.
- Automate – Auto-filled purchase forms can be sent out to medical suppliers whenever the hospital’s inventory runs low on resources.
- Notifications – Receive elaborate notifications whenever there are developments in hospital operations.
- Reports and analytics – Gain insightful reports on healthcare operations and how they can be improved.
Conclusion
Healthcare operations largely rely on how organized the workflow of hospitals are. This is where healthcare asset tracking solutions play a major role. Enhance hospital operations and provide better healthcare to patients, cut down on costs and increase savings by getting SmartAMS – the leading hospital asset management software in the market. Contact them today.
