The blood supply chain faces several challenges, such as stochastic demand and supply, the relation between the various stages of the chain, and the intrinsic nature of the product. Blood is a perishable, scarce, and (in most cases) voluntarily supplied product used to perform vital transfusions in patients which increases the pressure of managing its supply chain as efficiently and effectively as possible. For these reasons, it is crucial to have optimized inventory management that allows the availability of the right type of blood product, in the right place, at the right time, and in the right amount while avoiding wastage, especially in hospital blood banks that are the direct link to patients. This work aims to address these challenges with a new two-stage stochastic programming model for defining optimal ordering policies for blood products, considering demand uncertainty. This model minimizes wastage, shortages, and total costs related to blood inventory management, including ABO-substitutions. The model supports hospitals’ tactical-operational decisions of when and how much blood products to order. A case study of a Portuguese hospital is used to validate and show the applicability of the model. By comparing several ordering policies, we show that it is possible to contemplate the decision maker's goals whilst obtaining substantial reductions in terms of wastage and costs. These results allow the definition of an important set of managerial insights.

中文翻译：

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血库管理：不确定下的医院血库订购政策

血液供应链面临着几个挑战，例如随机供需、供应链各阶段之间的关系以及产品的内在性质。血液是一种易腐烂、稀缺且（在大多数情况下）自愿提供的产品，用于对患者进行重要输血，这增加了尽可能有效地管理其供应链的压力。出于这些原因，优化库存管理至关重要，它允许在正确的地点、正确的时间、以正确的数量提供正确类型的血液产品，同时避免浪费，尤其是在医院血库中与患者的直接联系。这项工作旨在通过新的两阶段随机规划模型来解决这些挑战，该模型用于定义血液制品的最佳订购策略，考虑到需求的不确定性。该模型最大限度地减少了与血液库存管理（包括 ABO 替代）相关的浪费、短缺和总成本。该模型支持医院关于何时以及订购多少血液制品的战术操作决策。一个葡萄牙医院的案例研究被用来验证和展示模型的适用性。通过比较几种订购政策，我们表明可以考虑决策者的目标，同时大幅减少浪费和成本。这些结果允许定义一组重要的管理见解。该模型支持医院关于何时以及订购多少血液制品的战术操作决策。一个葡萄牙医院的案例研究被用来验证和展示模型的适用性。通过比较几种订购政策，我们表明可以考虑决策者的目标，同时大幅减少浪费和成本。这些结果允许定义一组重要的管理见解。该模型支持医院关于何时以及订购多少血液制品的战术操作决策。一个葡萄牙医院的案例研究被用来验证和展示模型的适用性。通过比较几种订购政策，我们表明可以考虑决策者的目标，同时大幅减少浪费和成本。这些结果允许定义一组重要的管理见解。