Compare Inventory Practices Across CVS Pharmacy Southern AZ Market Stores

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the relationship between Inventory specialist and INMAR returns compliance. Methods: The study is a descriptive, observational, prospective study comparing monthly metric data and pharmacy inventory standards (December 2021 - May 2022). Metric data involved comparisons between INMAR returns & return non-compliance amongst stores. 10 CVS stores within Southern Arizona were only included and CVS stores located in Target were excluded. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Fisher’s exact test, and frequency with percent was used to analyze nominal data. Mann-Whitney U test, and median with interquartile range was used to analyze ordinal data. Results: All P-values were >0.05 for all measured variables, meaning the presence or absence of an inventory technician was not statistically significant. Nominal data shows a greater frequency (%) of inventory tasks being completed regardless of inventory specialist presence. The median of the inventory specialist stores and non-inventory specialist stores were 0 and 1 respectively. The difference in organization between the two groups was not statistically significant with a P value of 0.92. The INMAR Compliance Return Graph shows that most CVS stores were in compliance >80%. Conclusions: The Inventory Specialist may not fully impact pharmacy inventory practices. It’s possible that a combination of pharmacy personnel contributions help promote completion of pharmacy inventory tasks, instead of leaving inventory responsibilities solely for one person to manage.