Abstract:
Inventory management is the continuous process of planning, organizing and
controlling laboratory commodities that aims at minimizing the investment in inventory while
balancing supply and demand. It is comprised of ordering, receiving, storing, issuing, and reordering
of these commodities. Good practice of inventory management is of paramount importance for any
hospital for it deals with patients. There is limited information on laboratory commodities inventory
management performance in Jimma City and Jimma Zone.
Objective: To assess laboratory commodities inventory management performance in selected public
hospitals in Jimma City and Jimma Zone, Oromiya Regional National State, south west Ethiopia.
Methods: A facility based cross-sectional descriptive study accompanied by qualitative method was
conducted from 01-30 May, 2019. Seven public hospitals, 322 bin cards, Internal Facility Report and
Resupply Forms and 46 laboratory commodities were considered in the study in addition to key
informants. The collected data were cleared and analyzed using Excel and SPSS 24. Qualitative data
were summarized and analyzed thematically.
Result: All the seven public hospitals were included in the study. Logistics Management Information
Systems tools such as bin cards, Internal Facility Report and Requisition and Report and Requisition
forms (RRF) were available in all, 7(100%) of the studied public hospitals. About 69.88% of the
commodities had bin-cards, and 58.07% of them were updated. The inventory accuracy was 30.43%.
The stock out was 58.07% with mean stock out duration of 18 days. The wastage rate was 8.73%.
Percentage of public hospitals with desirable storage conditions fulfilled was 14.3% and the average
condition conditions was 70.9%. The identified challenges were budget constraint, lack of
administrative prompt support, lack of staff commitment, higher and frequent stock out from the
supplier side.
Conclusion and Recommendations: The laboratory commodities inventory management
performance of the studied hospitals was found to be weak which was described by poor bin-card
updating practice, poor stock record accuracy and the storage conditions was below the standard.
There was also higher stock out and wastage rates. Therefore, public hospitals of Jimma City and
Jimma Zone should give attention for the improvement of the laboratory commodities inventory
management; and supportive supervision should also be conducted by the management of these
hospitals.
