Operational Insights into Hospital Drug Inventory Control Through an Integrated ABC-VEN and Minimum–Maximum Stock Level Approach

Effective pharmaceutical inventory management supports drug availability, financial sustainability, and patient safety. This study presents preliminary operational evaluation of an Integrated Hospital Pharmacy Inventory Management System (IHPIMS) combining Always Better Control–Vital, Essential, Nonessential (ABC–VEN) analysis and Minimum–Maximum Stock Level (MMSL) methods. A mixed-methods study was conducted at a private Indonesian hospital to compare stockout incidents and inventory turnover ratio (ITOR) during January–June 2023 with the first complete post-implementation month, November 2023. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic content analysis. Twelve stockout incidents were recorded in November, compared with a pre-implementation monthly average of 28 incidents. No backorders attributed to internal procurement delays were observed in the evaluation period. ITOR decreased from 7 to 6, corresponding to approximately 60 days of inventory during the post-implementation month. IHPIMS was operationally feasible and provided a centralized platform for inventory monitoring and procurement coordination. However, because multiple operational changes occurred concurrently and only one post-implementation month was evaluated, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary operational observations rather than evidence of causal effectiveness. Longer-term evaluation is required to determine whether these findings are sustained over time.