How to correctly check in and put away product after it has been delivered to the hospital.

Checking In

Created January 29, 2025

Responsible department:

Inventory Team

Purpose

↓ To accurately verify that we have received the correct items in the correct amounts from a vendor. Also to confirm that we have not received damaged or short-dated product.

Context

↓ Most distributors only allow 1-2 business days to report any shipping errors or damaged product.

• Relevant Docs

Terminologies

• Purchase Order: Written order of good from buyer to seller. In our use, it is created in either Impromed or Cornerstone.
• Order Form: The printout of the order generated when the order is first placed. Not as detailed as an invoice, but typically has prices on it. Will include all items ordered, even if some will end up being backordered. We use this to determine if an entire order has been received/completed or not. (We typically use these instead of Purchase Orders)
• Invoice: Detailed list of all items sent in a single shipment. Can include several boxes of items. Will include prices and will indicate if an item is included in the invoice or if it is backordered/shipping separately. There can be several invoices for one order.
• Packing Slip: List of all items included in a single box. Usually does not include prices and does not include information about backordered items. Several packing slips can go with one invoice.
• Backordered: When an item that was ordered is not being shipped because of a lack of stock. Also referred to as out of stock. Different companies handle backorders differently. Some will save backorder information and will automatically ship the items when they come back in stock, some will delete them from the order but will call when they come back in stock and invoice us for them separately, and some will delete them from the invoice and we will need to reorder when they come back in stock with no notification from the company.
• Alternate Warehouse/Shipping Separately: Most of our items are shipped from local warehouses or from neighboring states. When one of these warehouses does not have the product in stock, the company will try to ship it from a warehouse farther away, an alternate warehouse. When this happens we will not get our typical overnight shipping but will get the product eventually (usually 3-5 days after ordering).
• Short-dated: When an item is sent to us that will expire soon. For example, being sent a drug that is a 3 month supply bottle that expires in 2 months. Typically we should expect a product to be dated 6 months out or longer. This is one of the reasons why we check every expiration date.