Optimizing Medication Supply chain in Hospitals through Automated Drugs Dispensing machines
Project Details
- Student(s): Anabel Tabet, Christina Saliba, Elias El Ghossein, Charbel Saab, Marylin Smayra
- Advisor(s): Dr. Pierrette Zouein
- Department: Industrial & Mechanical
- Academic Year(s): 2023-2024
Abstract
In healthcare facilities, effective inventory management and storage optimization are crucial for ensuring the timely and accurate dispensing of medications, which directly impacts patient care. Traditional methods often struggle to address the complexities associated with diverse medication inventories and fluctuating demand patterns. To overcome these challenges, this research project focuses on harnessing the capabilities of Automated Drug Dispensing Machines (ADMs) to optimize the supply chain of drugs within medical care facilities. The primary objective is to investigate optimal inventory management and storage methods for storing and distributing medication in hospitals, with a specific focus on integrating ADMs at different levels within the hospital infrastructure. The research entails gathering medication prescription data, focusing on clustered prescriptions, ordering processes, and storage and replenishment policies to identify demand patterns and medication usage trends within the hospital. A clustering algorithm will be developed to categorize drugs into meaningful clusters based on demand frequency and co-prescription likelihood, aiming to optimize inventory management by grouping frequently co-used medications. Following this, the focus shifts to devising an optimal storage policy dictating criteria for assigning medications to specific locations within ADMs, considering factors like medication type, usage frequency, expiration dates, and storage requirements to minimize errors and retrieval time. Finally, an optimal replenishment strategy will be formulated to reduce dispensing time and errors while adhering to constraints such as medication demand, ADM capacity, and practical considerations, ensuring ADMs remain stocked with required medications to meet patient needs. Ultimately, by integrating ADMs into hospital medication supply chains and implementing optimized inventory management and storage strategies, the research aims to enhance operational efficiency and elevate patient care standards, overcoming medication management challenges in healthcare settings through data-driven techniques like clustering algorithms and meticulous storage and replenishment policies.
