The Critical Role of Hospital Purchasing Agents

Hospitals are institutions that offer health care services that would provide medication and treatment of people who are sick, with the help of their medical staff, equipment and medicine. The medical staff, which includes specialists, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical technologists, and many others all work together for the benefit of the patients. All of these staff works cooperatively to achieve the goal of making the patient obtain treatment for their illnesses and maintain a better health. It is important to note that their job is not an easy task to do. Hospital personnel even have to work overtime, in shifting schedules, even during holidays and special occasions just to make sure patients get the service they need in urgent times. Their corroborative efforts are likewise very important for the smooth operation of health care centers. For example, doctors or specialists would often need the results of medical examinations from the medical technologists to be able to further conclude on what illness a patient has and how to provide treatment for it. If the patient is then hospitalized due to his or her condition, the nurses then will take care of him or her by checking the patient’s condition every now and then while the doctor is tending to another patient’s needs. Among the medical staffs that are employed in hospitals are purchasing agents. They are responsible for buying and approving the acquisition of goods and services that are needed by the hospital. They look for reliable suppliers and vendors of quality medical goods, equipment and medicine at reasonable prices. Not only do they look for sources of these goods, they also negotiate the prices for these goods so that they may be obtained at a more cost efficient value. They are required to become eloquent in administering negotiations with suppliers. Without hospital equipment, it is impossible to carry on important activities in the hospital. This is to emphasize the value of work rendered by hospital purchasing agents. Their role is equally important with all the rest of the hospital team. Moreover, they are also responsible for knowing and reviewing the technical specifications and quality of the materials needed. As a result, they are supposed to be familiar with the products used by the hospital industry and their specifications, as the doctors and nurses should. Not only that, they are the ones who make sure that there are ample supplies of the necessary materials to operate a hospital. Finally, hospital purchasing agents are the people who determine the quantity and schedule of the deliveries. By this, they should be updated with the stocks of the materials so that they can determine whether or not they will make a purchase during a time interval. Outwardly, the responsibility of purchasing agents may seem as less significant as compared to that of the doctors and nurses that are in contact with the patients, but in reality, their job is equally important as the former; and if not, greater. Simply put, they are the ones who equip the medical staff with the materials they need to complete the health services that are being given to the patients.