Stock cards for a clinic: the 8 columns, a worked example, FEFO, counting and reorder points

01What a stock card is, and what columns it needs

A stock card is the record for one product at one branch. Every time stock moves, one line is added, and the end of that line says what is left. Its entire value is in the word running — if you cannot say how many vials were on the shelf last Tuesday afternoon, what you have is a summary report, not a stock card.

WHO sets the minimum in its guidance on storage and distribution of medical products (TRS 1025, Annex 7). Clause 17.10 says comprehensive records of all receipts, storage, issues and distribution should be kept, including at least the date · name and description of the product · quantity received or supplied · name and address of supplier and customer · batch number · expiry date. Clause 13.1 says stock levels for every product should be maintained, on paper or electronically, and updated after each operation — entries, issues, losses and adjustments. Translated into columns on a clinic's card, that is:

• Date — the day the stock actually moved, not the day someone found time to write it up.
• Reference document — goods-receipt number, visit number, inter-branch transfer note, or adjustment number. A line with no reference is a line nobody can trace.
• Lot number — the column aesthetic clinics most often skip, and the one that makes a lot-specific recall possible.
• Expiry date — only stock from the same lot shares an expiry. Two lots received in the same month are two lines, never one.
• Quantity in and quantity out as separate columns — not one column with negative numbers, which are the easiest thing on a handwritten card to miss.
• Balance — calculated from the line above, never a number somebody typed over the top.
• Recorded by — a person's name, not a department, because when the balance is wrong the first question is who to ask.

02FEFO is not FIFO, and an aesthetic clinic needs FEFO

WHO defines FEFO (first expiry / first out) as a distribution procedure ensuring the stock with the earliest expiry date is distributed or used before an identical item with a later expiry date, and clause 12.30 says plainly that stock should be appropriately rotated and the FEFO principle should be followed. FIFO decides by the order stock was received, which is a different question — and it gives a different answer the moment a supplier delivers a shorter-dated lot after a longer-dated one, which happens with refrigerated goods more often than people expect.

For an aesthetic clinic this is not only about waste. Much of what the clinic holds is cold chain stock that has to stay within a defined temperature range at all times, and it is injected into people. When a manufacturer announces a recall, the questions that must be answerable the same day are: when did that lot arrive, how many units, who received it, and how much is left. WHO clause 10.7 requires distribution records to hold enough information to trace products supplied, naming batch numbers and quantities explicitly. A clinic whose stock card has no lot column cannot answer that, however diligent its staff are.

03Products the law requires a separate receipt-and-issue ledger for

A stock card a clinic designs for itself is a management tool, not a statutory form. But a clinic that holds narcotics or psychotropic substances also keeps a separate set of ledgers and reports on Thai FDA forms, which must be filed. The Narcotics Control Division summarises the forms for healthcare facilities as follows.

04What a fully filled-in stock card looks like

Below is one card header with all 8 columns that every line has to carry. The numbered markers match the order used in this guide. Print it as a template — for paper, for an Excel sheet, or as a checklist for whether the system you are about to buy has all the fields.

05Counting: cycle counts, full counts, and what to do when it doesn't match

A card nobody counts against is a card nobody knows is true. WHO clause 13.1 requires periodic stock reconciliation at defined intervals, comparing actual stock with the recorded figure. Clause 13.2 requires the root cause of a discrepancy to be identified and corrective and preventive actions taken so it does not recur. Clause 13.4 requires stock to be checked at regular intervals to find items close to expiry and remove them from usable stock. Note that none of the three mentions an annual full count.

Action research at Mukdahan Hospital shows frequent counting is both achievable and worth it. The pharmacy team ran a daily inventory-accuracy assessment form alongside a FEFO system across 1,053 pharmaceutical items for 9 months (Dec 2024 – Aug 2025), over 24 assessment rounds covering 21,908 item checks. Average quantity accuracy came out at 99.99%, lot and expiry accuracy at 99.68%, and FEFO shelf-arrangement accuracy at 99.75%. More to the point, the value of medicines that had to be returned or exchanged fell from 1,377,678.66 baht in fiscal 2024 to 956,585.64 baht in 2025 — a 30.60% reduction.

1. 1

   Freeze movement on that item first

   No issues until the discrepancy is understood, or the number moves again before anyone works out when it went missing.

2. 2

   Recount, with a different person from the first count

   A fair share of discrepancies disappear here, because they were a skipped box or the wrong unit rather than missing stock. Recount before escalating.

3. 3

   Work backwards to the last line where the balance was right

   A card with a balance on every line lets you bracket when it happened, leaving a handful of lines to check instead of a year of them.

4. 4

   Find the cause, not just a number that matches

   The usual causes: stock used in a visit was never deducted; damaged or expired stock was binned without a line; a transfer to another branch was posted on one side only; units were mixed up between vials and boxes. Each one has a different fix.

5. 5

   Post the adjustment as a new line, with a reason and an approver

   Never erase or overwrite. An adjustment is a movement like any other, and it should be approved by someone other than the person who counted. This is the point where a stock card stops being a file anyone can edit.

6. 6

   For narcotics and psychotropics, don't fix the internal card alone

   The FDA-form ledger has to reflect reality too. Ask the Narcotics Control Division or your provincial public health office how a discrepancy should be corrected and reported in that set of books.

06Reorder points: the formula, with three worked examples

A good stock card tells you what is left; it does not yet tell you when to order. That number is the reorder point: reorder point = (average daily usage × lead time in days) + safety stock. Lead time is how long it really takes from placing the order to stock reaching the shelf, not what the supplier says. Safety stock covers the busier-than-usual week and the late delivery. Take the average from your own stock card over the last three months — not from a feeling.

Setting reorder points does not mean holding more stock. A study at Pattaya City Hospital applied a continuous review inventory policy with simple moving-average forecasting and a 0.5-month lead time, and compared it with the existing way of working. Average monthly inventory value fell by 8.6–24.5% while the average annual inventory turnover rate rose by 9.4–32.8% — less cash tied up and faster-moving stock at the same time, because the reorder point came from real data instead of ordering ahead just in case.

07Is Excel enough, and where does it break

Excel can absolutely run a stock card, and for a single-branch clinic with a few dozen items and one person recording, it is enough. The problem is not that Excel can't — it is that Excel enforces nothing. A lot column nobody fills in still saves. A balance typed over its formula raises no warning. A cell edited yesterday leaves no trace of what it used to say. The dividing line is not the number of items; it is which of these you need enforced.

08Setting up a clean stock card system in a week

1. 1

   Day 1 — decide what gets a card

   Start with high-value items, refrigerated items and legally controlled ones. You do not need everything at once; most clinics have no more than 30–50 items in that group. Gloves and gauze can follow later.

2. 2

   Day 2 — fix one unit of measure per item

   Vial, or box, or unit — pick one and write it on the shelf label. A large share of the discrepancies found at counting come from two people using two different units, not from missing stock.

3. 3

   Day 3 — do an opening count, lot by lot

   Count the physical stock and write down the lot number and expiry from the box. This becomes the opening-balance line on every card. It happens once, so make it as accurate as you can — everything afterwards runs on from these numbers.

4. 4

   Day 4 — set reorder points and safety stock

   Use the formula above on three months of history. If you have no history, guess and diarise a review in a month. A wrong number that gets reviewed beats a blank nobody comes back to.

5. 5

   Day 5 — write down who records, and when

   One rule matters: record when the stock moves, not at the end of the day, and the person who takes the stock is the person who records it. Having one person write it all up in the evening is where the data starts drifting.

6. 6

   Day 6 — set the count cadence and the near-expiry warning

   Put actual dates in an actual calendar for which group is counted when, and decide how many days ahead of expiry you want to be warned. The warning window has to be long enough to still use or return the stock, not just long enough to know it expired.

7. 7

   Day 7 — run it for one full day, then recount in the evening

   Take the 5 fastest-moving items and count them against the cards at close. If all 5 match, the rules you wrote work. If they don't, you found the hole on day one instead of at year-end.

09Common mistakes

• One card covering several branches — a correct total with no idea where the stock is, is of no use. One card per item per branch, and a transfer is posted on both sides.
• No lot column, because "we remember" — right up to the day a manufacturer recalls one lot and you have to say who it was injected into.
• A balance typed over instead of calculated — the first time someone types over it, the card stops being a stock card, and nothing shows you which line it stopped at.
• Editing history instead of posting an adjustment — the number matches again, but whatever caused the mismatch is still there and will be back next month.
• Deducting at end of day from memory — the cancelled procedure, the vial that was dropped, and the item pulled but not used are the three things a six-o'clock memory never has all of.
• Opened or reconstituted stock never recorded — a reconstituted vial has a far shorter usable life than a sealed one. If the card still counts it as full, the balance is right on paper and useless on the shelf.
• Mixed units of measure — "3 left" meaning boxes to one person and syringes to another creates more variance than theft does.
• Counting only the expensive things — a cheap item running out mid-procedure stops the day just as effectively, and it is usually the one nobody owns.

10Self-audit checklist

Take the cards for your three most expensive items and run them against this list. It takes about ten minutes. Anything you cannot tick is a gap you now know about, which beats one you don't.

• One card per product, per branch
• Every line carries the date the stock actually moved
• Every line carries a reference document you can open
• Every line for a dated product carries a lot number and an expiry date
• Quantity in and quantity out are separate columns, with no negative numbers
• Every balance adds up from the line above
• Every line names the person who recorded it, not a department
• Issues always take the earliest-expiring lot (FEFO)
• Adjustment lines carry a reason and an approver who is not the counter
• The lot actually used is recorded in the visit's chart, not only in the store
• Count rounds are in a real calendar, not "when there's time"
• Narcotics and psychotropics have their separate FDA-form ledger as well