The Study of an Optimal Robust Design and Adjustable Ordering Strategies in the HSCM.

Hung-Chang Liao,Yan-Kwang Chen,Ya-Huei Wang

doi:10.1155/2015/517245

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish a hospital supply chain management (HSCM) model in which three kinds of drugs in the same class and with the same indications were used in creating an optimal robust design and adjustable ordering strategies to deal with a drug shortage. The main assumption was that although each doctor has his/her own prescription pattern, when there is a shortage of a particular drug, the doctor may choose a similar drug with the same indications as a replacement. Four steps were used to construct and analyze the HSCM model. The computation technology used included a simulation, a neural network (NN), and a genetic algorithm (GA). The mathematical methods of the simulation and the NN were used to construct a relationship between the factor levels and performance, while the GA was used to obtain the optimal combination of factor levels from the NN. A sensitivity analysis was also used to assess the change in the optimal factor levels. Adjustable ordering strategies were also developed to prevent drug shortages.

Highlights

One of the most important strategy issues for hospital administrators is to measure the performance of supply chain management (SCM)
Based on the multiple performances (MP) model, the results showed that the safety stock was at level 1.2 (420 units), Table 3: The neural networks for the normalized TSC (NTSC) model
The hospital supply chain management (HSCM) simulation model, which could handle three drugs from the same class and with the same indications, was used to find the optimal robust design and adjustable ordering strategies to cope with a drug shortage, according to the hospital’s needs and with the support of a purchasing alliance

Summary

Introduction

One of the most important strategy issues for hospital administrators is to measure the performance of supply chain management (SCM). Bendavid and Boeck [3] presented a radiofrequency identification (RFID) technique to improve hospital supply chain management (HSCM) in order to improve in turn the end-to-end traceability of medical products He and Lai [4] constructed an SCM model in order to identify the relationships between operational and strategic integration. Wang et al [12] proposed a purchasing policy on certain surgical materials in the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, attempting to construct a model to minimize the total cost of consignment inventory, including a deteriorating item, in the condition that the buyer has warehouse capacity constraint. Along with reducing the TSC, improving the patient safety level (PSL) is an important issue to enhance high quality care in the performance of HSCM in Taiwan; Liao’s research on HSCM [14] investigated how to dispatch the obtaining quantity to minimize total cost while taking patient safety into account.

The Scenario and Factor Level Settings in the HSCM

Conclusions