Development of a Paperless Prototype System for Medical Inventory Management: A Case Study in a Malaysian Hospital

Abstract

The advancement in digital technology from the fourth industrial revolution has benefited a wide array of fields, from manufacturing to service areas. The shift of conventional to digital operation makes it possible to increase the productivity, safety, quality and cost-optimization of both fields while promoting to greener and more sustainable environment. Within the frame of this book chapter, this study aims to promote the use of paperless operation, as part of digital technology to manage the asset of an organization. The study focuses on digitalization of the medical inventory management in the healthcare industry. A prototype of smart application (smart app) to manage the medical inventory in the chosen healthcare company was developed as an outcome from the study. The features and capabilities of the smart app from this study aligns with two of the nine pillars of the fourth industrial revolution framework which is system integration and cloud computing. Digital transformation of medical inventory systems allows healthcare providers to streamline asset management operations with sophisticated solutions that tackle multiple pain points at once.