Do You Know Where Your PPE Product Is?

To help hospitals combat COVID-19, we're offering our software for free for three months to monitor personal protective equipment levels. To any hospital. To as many hospitals as need it.  

Amid fears of COVID-19 contamination, PPE management needs to be as transparent as possible.

But if an executive at any given hospital asked about their PPE locations, quantities, and protocols, many (possibly even most) materials managers would not have a ready answer. So we'd encourage supply chain stakeholders at every level to ask the following questions: 

1. How are you keeping track of your PPE inventory so you can maintain proper supply levels? 
2. How much visibility do you have into your PPE count to identify all storage locations? 
3. How do you report to senior stakeholders that you can account for your PPE product and that you're adhering to all appropriate regulations and best practices? 

We would guess that many (again, unfortunately, most) supply chain pros would answer with the following: 

1. PPE locations are counted occasionally, and the results are entered into a spreadsheet manually. 
2. Data can be shared between stakeholders eventually, but there's nothing like real time visibility. 
3. That same spreadsheet can be shared internally, but it provides few insights.

It seems like healthcare supply chain pros at every level should be asking themselves if they might not benefit from: 

1. Counts conducted on a tablet or smartphone. 
2. Results that identify product locations down to the shelf. 
3. Inventory level and variance reports available to all stakeholders instantly. 

If you need to keep closer tabs on your PPE areas during a time of higher concern about infection prevention, you might want to implement Z5 Count in your hospital. 

And, again, to help monitor PPE levels, we’re offering our software free for three months of use. 

Z5 can get you set up in less than a week to conduct counts as often as you want. You can use your mobile devices. We may also be able to provide the labor. 

You've got long-term consequences to plan for. You don't need to type up a spreadsheet that might already be inaccurate by the time it makes its way to everyone in the hospital who needs the information. 

And, more importantly, your people don't need to doubt whether they're protected or not. 

So ask yourself again: how are you keeping track of your PPE inventory? And is that good enough?