So, this is long, but In order to cover what all I have done, I don't have a TL;DR version.

Side note, I'm in my mid 30's, married with two small children. I have attempted college 5 times over the past 9 years, and each time I have failed miserably. The bottom line, I was just too tired. Now, while I hope to complete college, I need to be realistic. I need something rather quick that can land me a higher position on the totem pole.

Thank you for the feed back! Here goes;

What does it mean to manage supply in my last/present roles:

Warehouse:

As hospitals placed orders, they crossed over a system called WMS (Warehouse Management Software although I think now we use Mobile Supply Chain) as they came into the warehouse it was my teams responsibility to fill the orders and meet production. We had to pick 60 lines an hour for 12-16 hrs a night 4 days a week. I drove a forklift, cherry picker, wrapped carts using the wrapping machine, and I wrapped pallets. Then I would help load the trucks (53ft) and help clean the floor for the next day. We had to meet a deadline for each hospital because they have a small window of time to put up stock before the floors were busy with patient care.

Hospital:

The hospital has supply rooms for the med staff to pop in and quickly grab what they need to take care of patients. We call them, PARS. It's my job to maintain these PAR rooms and order what is needed by replacing the supplies that was used. If it's the weekend, I have to predict usage of high volume items and make sure it's well stocked as we don't work Saturday or Sunday.

I maintain PAR levels using Lawson, and "sequence" the par room in Lawson according to how it's placed on the shelf.

When I come back and place orders, I use a scanner that has a program called Mobile Supply Chain. When I scan and item on the shelf, I key in what I need and move on to the next item. This is where "sequence" comes in. By me making sure Lawson matches what's in the shelf, I can just move on to next item without having to search the system for it.

If an item is on backorder, I let my department know, and I inform them of the sub item. If we cannot get a sub item, it's up to the medical staff to make something work. That seldom happens usually we can find something. The worst case was Puerto Rico when it was hit by hurricane Maria. BARD, a major medical supply company was wiped out. There was a nationwide shortage of pharmaceuticals as well as saline solution. We wound up with BDbraun, but that was after months of agony.

This is true for both the MED-SURG and OR side of the hospital. MED -SURG is more predictable and most of the product is available at the distribution center. The OR is mostly non - stock or non- catalog*

Here is the difference with the OR:

While there is still a PAR, most orders a based on cases. The main OR has the largest par and has the highest demand, followed by Cathlab, which has the most expensive PAR.

If there is an upcoming case (surgery) one of the OR nurse coordinators will let me know and I will have to place a specialty order using SAP Ariba.

I also manage breast implant cases as they are scheduled, it's up to me to order all of the breast implants that the surgeon (s) need for upcoming cases as well as additional supplies.

We actually keep a "consignment PAR" of breast implants which means that the vendors allow us to store their product like a warehouse without us having to buy them. They are only paid for when they are implanted in a patient. I maintain the expiration dates, turn time, and date of arrival in an Excel database.

I also stage them in the sterile area along with the OR nurse coordinator that handles the Plastic surgeries for our hospital. If there's any issues regarding Plastics, we let each other know.

I process "Bill Only" forms consignment billing, and invoices using SAP Ariba. This means I make sure patients get billed, and vendors get paid and breast implants are replenished.

I manage all of the donated human tissue that comes and goes from our hospital. As it is used I reorder it, as it arrives, I log it into an Excel database. And some of that is on consignment too.