Inventory

The spreadsheet nobody wants to own

Most practices track stock somewhere outside their EHR — a spreadsheet, a clipboard in the supply room, or the memory of whoever has been there longest. It works until that person is on leave, until a vaccine lot needs recalling, or until you run out of something on a Monday morning.

NovoClinical includes inventory as part of the system rather than as a separate problem.

What you hold, and what it is

Products are recorded with the detail that actually matters in a clinical setting — unit, route where relevant, lot number, dose amount and source — and organised into categories you define. Suppliers are held alongside them, so reordering does not start with somebody hunting for the account number.

Stock that moves with the visit

When something is administered or supplied during a visit, it comes out of stock as part of that workflow rather than as a separate task somebody has to remember. Vaccines, injectables and supplies given to a patient are recorded against the patient and against the stock at the same time.

Items sold directly to patients are handled the same way, so what left the shelf and what was charged for stay in agreement.

Knowing before you run out

Stock levels and inventory reporting show what you are holding, what is moving and what is running low — while there is still time to order. The practices that get caught out are almost never the ones checking; they are the ones with no way to check.

Lots, and why they matter

Recording lot numbers is unglamorous until the day it is not. When a manufacturer issues a recall, the question is which patients received that lot — and answering it from a paper log is slow, uncertain and stressful. Holding lot detail against both the stock and the administration record means the question has an answer.

Part of the record, not beside it

Because inventory sits in the same system as the chart and the billing, an administered item connects to the visit that used it and the charge that followed. No reconciling three sources to work out where something went.