GLOSSARY

• DEPOT - A “depot” is a location where significant numbers of stock items are stored until they are needed. The size and function of a Depot can vary from a large storehouse for handling transfers of drugs to a small pharmacy in a clinic for dispensing drugs to patients.

• PHARMACY - A location used to store and provide medications (and other related stock items) as needed by Patients, Services, or other Pharmacies.

  • Stock Pharmacy - A Stock Pharmacy is typically a local storage facility that receives stock from depots and suppliers and provides stock to other pharmacies. A stock pharmacy does not generally dispense medications directly to patients.

  • Dispensing Pharmacy - A Dispensing Pharmacy (Pharmacie D’Usage in French) is a pharmacy that dispenses stock to patients, wards, and services. Normally, stock is not transferred from Dispensing Pharmacies to other Pharmacies.

• LOT - A “Lot” is a collection of identical stock items that are usually purchased and tracked together. For instance, a box of pills might be part of a lot of that type of medication. But “Lot” is also a more general term. For instance, a single piece of equipment may be purchased by itself but for stock tracking purposes, it would be considered to be in a lot of 1 stock item.

• SERVICE - In the BHIMA perspective, a “Service” is a department in the hospital such as “pediatrics”, “ophthalmology”, “internal medicine”, “pharmacy”, or “administration”. Services can be assigned invoices, consume medications, contain staff, and have both profit and loss centers.

• STOCK - “Stock” are any items used in the operation of a hospital or clinic. Examples include drugs for treating patients, medical equipment and supplies, and administrative supplies. “Stock” items are often purchased in “Lots” which include a number (or identifier) of the stock items. Where possible BHIMA uses the lot number provided by the manufacturer (see this Wikipedia article for more information).

• STOCK ADJUSTMENT - When a physical inventory of stock reveals that the actual count of stock items differs from the count in the “Theoretical Quantity” (as tracked by the BHIMA system), then an “Stock Adjustment” should be performed to update the BHIMA system (and the “Theoretical Quantity”.

• STOCK ENTRY - “Stock entries” occur when an item of stock is added to a Depot. Types of stock entries include:

  • Purchase - stock items entering the Depot from a fulfilled purchase order

  • Donation - stock items entering the Depot from a donation

  • Integration - stock items entering the Depot that do not have a known origin but are necessary to be tracked in the system. This often happens during start-up - stock is found on the shelf, but it isn’t necessarily clear where it came from. It’s easiest to simply “integrate” the stock as-is, rather than try to reproduce the history exactly from previous documentation.

  • Transfer - stock items entering the Depot due to a transfer from some other Depot.

• STOCK EXIT - “Stock exits” occur when an item is removed from a Depot. This includes exits due to:

  • Exit to an individual - Stock items leaving the depot for use in the hospital or clinic

  • Distribution to a service - Stock items leaving the depot for use by a hospital service (such as sutures for the operating room).

  • Distribution to a depot - Stock items leaving the depot to be transferred to another depot.

  • Loss - Stock items that are declared lost or expired and removed from the inventory of stock items. This may happen when a direct review of the stock items reveals that some items are missing or expired.

• SUPPLIER - A supplier is the source of the stock items coming into depots from purchases. They are represented as a creditor in the accounting module.