The Materials Management Department (MMD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center provides all equipment and medical-surgical supplies for patient care units and clinics. This includes a variety of highly specialized, protocol-driven medical-surgical items for specific research-related needs of Clinical Center departments and, in limited instances, other Institutes and Centers within the NIH.
The department stores and distributes a line item inventory of more than 3,000 medical-surgical supplies, 4,200 clinical equipment items, and nearly 7,000 other medical and non-medical equipment items. It processes more than 500,000 requisitions per year and provides quality assurance for all operations.
MMD maintains a hospital-wide, on-line, real-time catalog [Visual Supply Catalog (VSC)] of medical-surgical items and uses a state-of-the-art BioMedical Equipment Performance computer program that assures optimum equipment performance for patient and caregiver safety. It also provides real-time inventory reconciliation to determine the need for routinely stocked items. In addition, it maintains a stand-alone business management database system that manages the cost utilization of inventory.
To keep up with change in the marketplace and in the medical technology industry, MMD provides a “one-stop shopping” paradigm that pulls together all new product/ technology/service identification, evaluation, selection, and implementation service.
MMD is composed of four sections and a clinical nurse consultant service. The four sections are:
- Biomedical Engineering and Property Management
- Central Hospital Supply
- Inventory Management
- Storage and Distribution.
MMD employs 46 people and provides on-call and 24/7 coverage for emergent customer requests outside normal working hours.