Abstract:
Background Management of low-value medical consumables in the ward area is the key stage of hospital operation management, medical insurance cost monitoring, and refined nursing management. The traditional management mode exists issues such as lagging supervision, extensive inventory control, inefficient inventory, and data discrepancy between requisition and pricing, thus making it difficult to satisfy the demand of fine management of low-value medical consumables under the new circumstances. Objective To develop a real-time monitoring system on low-value medical consumables in hospital wards that based on the hospital information system, and enhance the precision of consumables management. Methods This study adopted a self-controlled before-and-after quasi-experimental research design. By integrating the data interface between the Hospital Information System (HIS) and the materials management system, a comprehensive system featuring inventory threshold alerts, abnormal data notifications, and multi-dimensional real-time monitoring functions was established. Data of low-value medical consumables were selected from two periods before the system implementation (January to October 2024) and after the system implementation (January to October 2025). The effectiveness of the system was evaluated by comparing end-of-month inventory levels, time consumption for monthly physical counts, the proportion of discrepancies between consumable requisition and charging, and nursing staff satisfaction rates. Results The real-time monitoring system on low-value medical consumables were able to show data of various consumable specifications by hierarchy and by ward. Under the premise that there were no significant difference in inpatient occupied bed days and surgical volumes among hospitalized patients (Z=-0.051, P=0.959, r=-0.016; Z=-1.478, P=0.139, r= -0.467), the end-of-month inventory of low-value medical consumables decreased significantly (Z=-2.803, P=0.005, r=-0.886). The monthly end-of-month inventory time per ward was significantly reduced from 95.00(90.00, 120.00) min to 65.50(51.25, 80.00) min (P<0.01). The discrepancy rate between sampled consumables received and billed decreased from 4.55% - 13.37% to 0.89% - 2.42% (P<0.001). The overall satisfaction rate among nursing staff with the system reached 99.09%. Conclusion The real-time monitoring system on low-value medical consumables in hospital wards can effectively improve the efficiency and accuracy of consumables management, reduce the burden of consumables management on nurses, ensure the efficient operation of medical services, and provide practical references for the information-based closed-loop management of low-value medical consumables in wards of tertiary hospitals.