Examination of material management processes in health institutions and a model proposal

Background and Aim: The availability of the materials needed in the provision of health services ready in the desired quality and quantity, on time and at reasonable costs is a prerequisite for the service to continue without interruption. The limited resources, despite the increasing needs every day, increase the need for an effective material management system in health institutions. The aim of this study is to determine the strong and open-to-development aspects of the system by taking the opinions of stakeholders about the material management systems currently used in health institutions. As a result of the situation assessment, a new material and supply chain management model proposal for the use of public and private hospitals is proposed. Material and Methods: The universe of this study is composed of people and institutions involved in the material management processes in the healthcare sector in Türkiye. The interview method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used as the data collection method in the study. For the sample, a total of 39 officials with at least 2 years of experience in the field of material management were interviewed among the stakeholders considered to be parties to the material management processes from the universe using the 'maximum diversity sampling' method, which is included in the "purposeful sampling" methods. Interview questions were created by reviewing the literature and taking expert opinions, in a way that would reflect the material and supply chain methods used in the current system in healthcare institutions, their strengths and developmental aspects, the effects of digitalization on material management systems and contribute to the proposal of a new model. Interviews were conducted face-to-face with audio and written recordings between 01/09/2022-05/05/2023 with the consent of the parties. After the interviews were completed, the voice recordings were converted to text with online artificial intelligence-supported voice transcription programs. The interviews, which were recorded in handwriting, were transcribed by the researcher and transferred to the digital environment. The interviews were analyzed with the QDA Miner program. Results: According to the findings obtained from the study, it was seen that there is a general view that the material and supply chain methods used in health institutions are insufficient to meet the needs of health institutions. As a justification; the inability to make fast supplies with current methods, the inability to manage stocks and warehouses effectively, the weakening of financial sustainability and the problems experienced in meeting local needs with bulk purchases come to the fore. Participants reported in total, at least 1 strong direction about the current methods 135 times, while they reported at least 1 developmental open direction 172 times. Regarding the new model proposal designed, 26 out of 39 participants expressed their views in support of our model proposal. Conclusion: For the improvement of material and supply chain management processes, 6 general strategies were determined and evaluated in terms of rationale, method and applicability and proposed. In the study, where the need for a new model in health institutions mainly emerged; the solution to many problems and cumbersome structures that arise in the materials and supply chain methods used in the current situation, fast procurement in accordance with the technology and speed age we are in, and other benefits that arise with working, the "Electronic Materials and Supply Chain Management Platform" model proposal was designed and presented. Keywords: Health services, health institutions, material management, supply chain management, e-supply