Comparison through a prospective and randomized study of two replenishment methods at polyvalent hospitalization units with two-bin storage systems

OBJECTIVE Two-bin storage systems increase nursing staff satisfaction and decrease inventories, but the implications that logistic staff would determine the needs of replenishment are unknown. This study aimed to evaluate whether entrust to logistics staff this responsibility at the polyvalent hospitalization units with two-bin storage is associated with higher risk of outstanding orders. METHODS This was a prospective randomized experiment whit masking. Outstanding orders were considered variable response, those corresponding to assessments of the logistics staff were included in the control group and those corresponding to the nursing staff in the control group. Concordance between observers was analyzed using the Bland-Altman method; the difference between groups, with the U of Mann-Whitney and the cumulative incidence of outstanding orders and their relative risk was calculated. RESULTS The mean amount requested by the logistic and nursing staff was 29.9 (SD:167.4) and 36 (SD:190) units respectively, the mean difference between observers was 6.11 (SD:128.95) units and no significant differences were found between groups (p = 0.430). The incidence of outstanding orders was 0.64% in the intervention group and 0.15% in the control group; the relative risk, 2.31 (0.83 - 6.48) and the number of cases required for an outstanding order, 516. CONCLUSIONS Outstanding order relative risk is not associated with the category of the staff that identifies the replenishment needs at the polyvalent hospitalization units.