Is your department’s supply room or cabinet cluttered with a mix of overstocked, understocked and out-of-date materials? Throughout Kaiser Permanente, unit-based teams are taking stock of their supplies and finding they can save time and money by designing better systems for organizing and ordering supplies. Reducing supply waste is one of many ways that teams are helping KP become more affordable for our members and patients.Sort your supplies to determine which ones to keep, which should be disposed of, and which you need more information about before deciding.

1. Create an opportunity for everyone in the department to give input about how often different supplies get used, so you don’t eliminate something the department needs.
2. 通过找出每件物品的所属位置来组织供应品，然后给供应品和货架贴上标签。同时设定“标准”水平，计算出部门应该随时准备的数量。
3. Remember safety when organizing the supplies. Make sure people won’t have to bend too low, reach too far or lift something that’s too heavy.
4. Establish a signal for when supplies need to be re-ordered. For example, the signal might beflipping the bin upside down, filling out a re-order card or alerting whoever oversees ordering supplies. And have a system for alerting people when an item is getting close to its expiration date.
6. 通过制定一个计划来确保物资保持有序、有序和清洁，使新系统常规化。例如，创建一个清单，以确保新程序得到遵守，或指派某人在一天结束时签字，以确保第二天的工作用品准备就绪。
7. Check in regularly with other team members to make sure the new system is working and to tweak it if it needs adjustments.
8. Consider approaching departments similar to yours that may order the same supplies. You may be able to consolidate orders. For example, many departments in the same medical facility order sutures.
9. Calculate how much money you’ve saved. Compare what you were spending before on supplies to what you’re spending now.
10. Take before and after pictures to help you communicate the story of how your department reduced waste.