Practice Operations and Administration
Practice Operations and Administration
Operations questions test the systems that keep the hospital running: scheduling and flow, inventory, facilities, records, and regulatory compliance. The exam favors measurable decisions over intuition.
Core rules and concepts
- Appointment templates are capacity plans. Match slot length to service type, protect same-day urgent slots, and track utilization (booked hours ÷ available hours).
- Inventory: reorder point = (average daily usage × lead time in days) + safety stock. Keep min/max levels current; review slow movers quarterly.
- Inventory turns = annual COGS ÷ average inventory value at cost. Low turns tie up cash and raise expiry risk.
- Controlled substances require a current DEA registration, secure storage, a perpetual log, and reconciliation; state boards add requirements.
- Medical records are legal documents: timely, legible, signed, and retained per state rule.
- Standard operating procedures make quality repeatable and training faster; review annually and after incidents.
Worked example
A practice uses 50 boxes of suture per week. The supplier's lead time is 2 weeks and the manager keeps 40 boxes as safety stock. Reorder point = (50 × 2) + 40 = 140 boxes. Annual usage is 2,600 boxes. If the practice orders 300 boxes at a time, average cycle stock is 150; adding safety stock gives 190 boxes. Turns = 2,600 ÷ 190 ≈ 13.7 per year. Reasoning: the reorder point protects against lead-time demand; the order quantity sets average inventory. If turns fall to 6, cash is sitting on shelves-check for duplicate SKUs and expired stock before blaming demand.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing reorder point with order quantity; they answer different questions.
- Counting inventory at retail rather than cost when computing turns.
- Leaving expired or recalled product in the count.
- Setting a template so full that no urgent case can be seen; utilization looks great while access fails.
- Assuming a signed record is complete when it lacks consent or an estimate discussion.