We have the same system as Colleen but I personally maintain a spreadsheet. I have different color indicators on which were returned/exchanged or pending.

Name of Facility: 220

City, State: Acute care Trauma II

Years as a Buyer: 4.5

I agree with all, that coming up with an efficient system for tracking the borrow/loans is rather challenging. At any given time, we could have approx. 40+ hospitals borrowing from us. I was having a difficult time keeping track of all the in's and out's but a couple years ago I developed a 2-part borrow/loan form (white copy remains inhouse, yellow copy goes with product)and a database to monitor all the transactions. The transaction is then key punched into the database. At the end of each month it automatically runs a detailed report and from there I can create and send an invoice to the borrowing institution. Nine times out of ten the other buyer calls me to negotiate a return. I usually request the same items borrowed or something that we can use of equal dollar value. This system seems to be working excellent for me...but of course every sytem has it's flaws such as people not filling out the forms properly!

Name of Facility: Massachusetts General Hospital - 1000+ beds

Years as a Buyer: 8

I don't think there's a "perfect" system, but the key to an efficient system is accountablilty. The easiest method I've used is the ledger book system. You have columns for:
Borrow or Lend
the date
the product
the quantity
the facility
the person FROM the facility (I feel that if there a person attached to the drug, it's easier to keep track of)
the date of the transaction
the date of replacement
and again, the other person involved in the transaction.

It's a lot of initial setup, and it may be a pain in the beginning, but it gets easier as everybody gets used to the system. A colleague of mine who also used this system went as far as getting the email address of the other person in the transaction; it was normally the person borrowing a drug. And once a month, she'd send out emails and a detailed list of everything people owed her. Granted, that part may be a little over the top, but that's the level of accountability you can have with a system like that.

Mike

Name of Facility: Summerdale Enterprises, Inc.

City, State: Publishing

Years as a Buyer: > 30

We have a process much like Mike's process. We actually have a 3 ring binder for the borrowing and one for the lending. I have also added columns for recording either repayment or billing where I fill in the date that the action is taken. I reconcile the logs at the end of the month. We do pretty well with getting everything in the books. I will tell you that it has taken a long time to get to this point and a lot of hunting people down (they do not like to see me coming with these questions). Considering where we started, we have made vast improvements in 4 years. Sometimes I also give gentle reminders at staff meetings when I see us start to slip.

Name of Facility: 330

Years as a Buyer: 4 in Pharmacy & 20 in retail hardgoods