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Managing Medical Supplies
Thankfully I don’t have much to manage when it comes to medical supplies. I do have a cupboard in my kitchen dedicated to feeding tube stuff like 4×4 pads, syringes and extension tubes. Although I haven’t had trouble in the past obtaining supplies, after switching suppliers I’m running into issues. Too much of some things, the wrong things, and not enough of others. When I try to adjust they say I need new orders. After getting new orders, they still get it wrong. I don’t really feel like quibbling over a box of 4×4’s, the wrong extension tubes and the wrong size tape, so I’ll probably try to scrimp by until next month. Unfortunately my stockpile has dwindled as I’ve been working on getting it right for a few months now. Maybe with a little prodding they’ll get it right next month? How do you manage medical supplies?
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5 Replies
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I like to have several months’ worth at all times, so that when they mess up (which they all do), I don’t have to worry.
That often means saving the things I use slightly less than I receive (but still ordering by the “correct” date) or swapping supplies with other people. There are lots of groups devoted to such transfers online, and some are just for us with SMA.-
Supply swaps seem like a good idea. I’ll have to look into it.
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My pharmacy sends my meds in 3-month intervals and it’s a lot to store. I wish I could say I have a good system in place, but I just keep managing it and make sure whoever is giving me my meds, treatments, etc. lets me know if something is running low.
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My supplier is very good (Toronto, Ontario). The nurse who comes always keeps some supplies in her car, “just in case”. She has used some of her supplies twice for me when I did not have something, and once borrowed my supplies for another client.
I don’t pay for the supplies myself, so I am quite happy to help out by sharing to make sure the next person has what they need, too.
It’s that kind of flexibility which makes it work.
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I also have an overabundance of supplies for the inevitable mess ups by the DMEs. I’ve had to fight often with one of them (Edgepark) over my spc supplies. It’s a headache and I get angry b/c they can be very stupid. But for every time they messed up, my other DME (Coram) does a great job with my feeding tube stuff.
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