ArticleCureus2026
Beyond Traditional Inventory Matrices: A Multidimensional Inventory and Safety Model for an Outpatient Pharmacy.
Article in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEffective outpatient pharmacy inventory management in tertiary care hospitals requires balancing rigorous cost containment with absolute clinical safety over multi-year operational cycles. Traditional ABC (Always, Better, Control) and VED (Vital, Essential, Desirable) matrices focus heavily on financial and basic clinical parameters but often overlook direct patient safety indicators and longitudinal consumption trends.
objectiveThis study aimed to evaluate outpatient pharmacy inventory patterns across three consecutive fiscal years (FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26) using ABC and VED analyses, assess longitudinal changes in expenditure and clinical criticality, and integrate High-Alert Medication and Look-Alike, Sound-Alike assessments to identify medication-safety risks and opportunities for inventory optimization. METHODOLOGY: A retrospective longitudinal inventory analysis spanning three consecutive fiscal years (FY 2023-24, FY 2024-25, and FY 2025-26) was conducted using annual consumption and expenditure data from the outpatient pharmacy at a premier tertiary care teaching hospital in New Delhi. Total unique medication lines analyzed ranged from 6,207 to 6,468 items per year, representing a cumulative multi-billion-rupee expenditure. Each annual dataset was subjected to ABC Pareto analysis and VED classification mapped against the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM 2022). Algorithmic string matching and established safety guidelines were utilized to isolate high-alert medication (HAM) and look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) vulnerabilities longitudinally.
resultsTotal annual pharmacy expenditure grew from ₹3.80 billion in FY 2023-24 to ₹4.57 billion in FY 2024-25, and ₹5.54 billion in FY 2025-26. Across all three years, Class A items demonstrated a stable Pareto expenditure distribution while shrinking in item volume from 276 (4.45%) down to 179 (2.77%). VED analysis revealed an escalating financial concentration in non-essential ambulatory care, with
conclusionsLongitudinal analysis demonstrates that relying solely on single-year ABC-VED matrices is insufficient for modern hospital administration. Integrating HAM and LASA metrics across multi-year cycles enables proactive cost-containment in expanding non-essential outpatient categories while upholding rigorous national accreditation standards for medication management and safety.
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