Principles of supply chain management in the time of crisis

Chikezie N Okeagu; Devin S Reed; Lu Sun; Matthew M Colontonio; Arthur Rezayev; Yahya A Ghaffar; Rachel J Kaye; Henry Liu; Elyse M Cornett; Charles J Fox; Richard D Urman; Alan D Kaye

doi:10.1016/j.bpa.2020.11.007

Principles of supply chain management in the time of crisis

Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 2021 Oct;35(3):369-376. doi: 10.1016/j.bpa.2020.11.007. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Authors

Chikezie N Okeagu¹, Devin S Reed², Lu Sun³, Matthew M Colontonio⁴, Arthur Rezayev⁵, Yahya A Ghaffar⁶, Rachel J Kaye⁷, Henry Liu⁸, Elyse M Cornett⁹, Charles J Fox¹⁰, Richard D Urman¹¹, Alan D Kaye¹²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Sciences Center, 1542 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA. Electronic address: cokeag@lsuhsc.edu.
² Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Sciences Center, 1542 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA. Electronic address: dree13@lsuhsc.edu.
³ LSU School of Medicine, USA. Electronic address: lsun2@lsuhsc.edu.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: mcolo1@lsuhsc.edu.
⁵ Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: arezay@lsuhsc.edu.
⁶ MSII LSU Health Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA. Electronic address: yghaff@lsuhsc.edu.
⁷ Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA. Electronic address: rachelkaye17@hotmail.com.
⁸ Department of Anesthesiology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University School of Medicine, 500 University Drive, H187, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
⁹ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: ecorne@lsuhsc.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Anesthesiology, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: cfox1@lsuhsc.edu.
¹¹ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: rurman@bwh.harvard.edu.
¹² Departments of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Neurosciences, LSU Health Shreveport, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71103, USA. Electronic address: akaye@lsuhsc.edu.

Abstract

Hospitals face catastrophic financial challenges in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Acute shortages in materials such as masks, ventilators, intensive care unit capacity, and personal protective equipment (PPE) are a significant concern. The future success of supply chain management involves increasing the transparency of where our raw materials are sourced, diversifying of our product resources, and improving our technology that is able to predict potential shortages. It is also important to develop a proactive budgeting strategy to meet supply demands through early designation of dependable roles to support organizations and through the education of healthcare staff. In this paper, we discuss supply chain management, governance and financing, emergency protocols, including emergency procurement and supply chain, supply chain gaps and how to address them, and the importance of communication in the times of crisis.

Keywords: COVID; crisis; emergency management; emergency preparedness; hospital resiliency; supply chain management.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / economics
COVID-19 / epidemiology
COVID-19 / therapy*
Civil Defense / economics
Civil Defense / methods
Crew Resource Management, Healthcare / economics
Crew Resource Management, Healthcare / methods*
Equipment and Supplies, Hospital / economics
Equipment and Supplies, Hospital / supply & distribution*
Humans
Personal Protective Equipment / economics
Personal Protective Equipment / supply & distribution*