Aidey
Community Leader Emeritus
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What is your point? Not everyone gets their drugs from the same supplier. Sometimes agencies are locked into contacts that make it difficult to order things from a different supplier. Other agencies may have stockpiled before the shortages became this bad.
Look, I hate it as much as the next guy when we run out of supplies. It annoys me to no end, but I also know that the logistics behind the situation are more complicated than just saying "I want this" and getting it.
We order supplies weekly, and there is about a 2 week delay between when the order is placed and when it gets delivered. We also use ePCRs, and one of the features is that reports can be searched for certain criteria. For example, they can look me up, and then find out how many intubations or IVs I have done in X amount of time. Or how many IVs have been done in the last month by all paramedics. This means they can get a rough idea of how frequently certain supplies are used.
The problem is EMS is not a consistent business. You may have 3 codes in 1 week and then none for 3 months. This means that you may go through things faster than expected. Whoever is ordering supplies has to make their best guess based on current inventory, anticipated usage, and budget available. There has to be a balance between ordering enough and ordering too much. Most of the stuff we use has an expiration date and that has to be taken into consideration. In addition other crews may be stockpiling in their units, the supplier may not have the amount available that was ordered and shipments may be delayed due to weather or other problems.
Like I said, it isn't as easy as it looks.
Look, I hate it as much as the next guy when we run out of supplies. It annoys me to no end, but I also know that the logistics behind the situation are more complicated than just saying "I want this" and getting it.
We order supplies weekly, and there is about a 2 week delay between when the order is placed and when it gets delivered. We also use ePCRs, and one of the features is that reports can be searched for certain criteria. For example, they can look me up, and then find out how many intubations or IVs I have done in X amount of time. Or how many IVs have been done in the last month by all paramedics. This means they can get a rough idea of how frequently certain supplies are used.
The problem is EMS is not a consistent business. You may have 3 codes in 1 week and then none for 3 months. This means that you may go through things faster than expected. Whoever is ordering supplies has to make their best guess based on current inventory, anticipated usage, and budget available. There has to be a balance between ordering enough and ordering too much. Most of the stuff we use has an expiration date and that has to be taken into consideration. In addition other crews may be stockpiling in their units, the supplier may not have the amount available that was ordered and shipments may be delayed due to weather or other problems.
Like I said, it isn't as easy as it looks.