Most long-term care homes do not run out of adult briefs — they run out of the second and third item on the cart. This checklist covers 16 incontinence and personal-care supplies that quietly fall off restocking orders in Canadian LTC homes. Work down the list, compare each line against your own resident-day usage, and set a written reorder trigger before the next order goes in.
Quick Facts
- Restocking should follow your home's actual consumption per resident-day, not a case count borrowed from another site.
- Overnight briefs and 60x90 cm underpads are the two lines most often under-ordered, because they sit on the unit cart and are rarely counted.
- A quarterly usage audit is the fastest way to reset safety-stock days after a census or care-mix change.
- Every item needs a written reorder trigger in days of coverage, not a "someone will notice" rule.
Why Restocking Orders Miss the Same Items Every Time
Incontinence ordering fails in predictable ways. The person placing the order sees a full-looking shelf, not a consumption rate. High-turnover items get ordered "in bulk" and then never counted, while low-volume, resident-specific items are invisible because nobody owns them. Add shift handover and two separate budgets — nursing and housekeeping — and you get the familiar pattern: the same ten items arrive on time and the same six are borrowed from the neighbouring unit.
The fix is not a bigger order. It is a checklist with a trigger attached to each line. The CliniEco learning hub gathers the selection, stocking, and budgeting guides behind this list.
The 16-Item LTC Incontinence Restocking Checklist
Each item carries three things: why it gets forgotten, a suggested cadence, and the stock level that should trigger a reorder.
Core Absorbency Items
- 1. Extended-length overnight briefs. Forgotten because night staff pull them but rarely order, and day staff assume someone else did. Restock monthly, or biweekly on a high-acuity unit; review whenever a resident's overnight care plan changes.
- 2. Day-use adult briefs. Forgotten because they are ordered "in bulk" and never counted, so nobody sees the slide. Count weekly, order monthly. The Day Comfort adult incontinence briefs line shows the absorbency tiers to size against.
- 3. Pull-ups (pull-on protective underwear). Forgotten because residents switch between briefs and pull-ups mid-quarter and the change is not always written down. Review usage monthly; keep every size on the shelf.
- 4. 60x90 cm underpads. Forgotten because they read as "just a mat" and get ordered last. Restock monthly, and pair the count with the underpad selection checklist for pressure-injury prevention so size and absorbency stay matched to the bed.
- 5. 30x36 in underpads. Forgotten because they are used on chairs, commodes, and transfers, so consumption hides under a different budget line. Restock monthly.
- 6. Disposable bed sheets. Forgotten because they are pulled from the linen budget, so no continence owner sees the drawdown. Restock monthly and replenish ahead of outbreak periods.
Skin and Surface Protection
- 7. Barrier wipes. Forgotten because they are filed as skincare, not incontinence, and ordered by nobody in particular. Restock monthly; keep a par level on each unit.
- 8. Barrier cream and ointment. Forgotten because a shared tube hides real usage. Restock monthly; give each unit its own par level.
- 9. Spare mattress protectors. Forgotten because it is a durable, not a consumable, and only surfaces when one fails mid-shift. Restock quarterly; one spare per ten beds is a workable floor.
PPE and Waste Lines
- 10. Disposable gloves in multiple sizes. Forgotten because sizes get consolidated to one SKU to simplify ordering. Restock biweekly. The companion LTC point-of-care PPE stocking checklist covers glove, gown, and mask par levels together.
- 11. Cleaning gloves and aprons. Forgotten because housekeeping orders on a separate cycle from nursing. Restock monthly.
- 12. Waste bags. Forgotten because they fit every budget line and therefore belong to none. Restock monthly, per unit.
Support and Labeling Items
- 13. Ostomy pouch accessories. Forgotten because volume is low and demand is resident-specific, so they sit below everyone's ordering threshold. Restock monthly against current care plans; hold roughly three weeks of buffer for resident-specific items.
- 14. Bedside urinals and commode liners. Forgotten because the reusable urinal masks the disposable liner count. Restock monthly.
- 15. Labels and date stickers. Forgotten because they are not clinical and appear on no clinical order sheet. Restock quarterly.
- 16. Small stock cart. Forgotten because it is a durable asset with no consumable budget owner. Review annually; any unit without a dedicated cart is running on memory.
Master Overview: 16 Items at a Glance
Print this table and pin it to the stock room door. The safety-stock column is a starting figure; rewrite it after your first quarterly audit.
| Item | Primary use | Suggested safety stock | Reorder trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Extended-length overnight briefs | Night-time absorbency | 10–14 days | Under 7 days on the unit cart |
| 2. Day-use adult briefs | Day-time absorbency | 14 days | Under 10 days in the main store |
| 3. Pull-ups | Mobile residents | 10–14 days | Under 7 days in any single size |
| 4. 60x90 cm underpads | Bed protection | 10–14 days | Under 7 days for continence-care beds |
| 5. 30x36 in underpads | Chairs, commodes, transfers | 10 days | Under 10 days |
| 6. Disposable bed sheets | Surface protection | 7–10 days | Under 5 days |
| 7. Barrier wipes | Skin hygiene at point of care | 10 days | Under 7 days |
| 8. Barrier cream / ointment | Skin barrier care | 14 days | Under 10 days per unit par |
| 9. Spare mattress protectors | Replacement capacity | 1 per 10 beds | Fewer than 1 spare per 10 beds |
| 10. Disposable gloves (multiple sizes) | Point-of-care PPE | 7–10 days | Under 5 days in any one size |
| 11. Cleaning gloves and aprons | Environmental cleaning | 10 days | Under 7 days |
| 12. Waste bags | Waste handling | 10 days | Under 7 days per unit |
| 13. Ostomy pouch accessories | Resident-specific care | 21 days | Under 21 days for any resident item |
| 14. Urinals and commode liners | Toileting support | 10 days | Under 10 days |
| 15. Labels and date stickers | Stock rotation and traceability | 14 days | Under 14 days |
| 16. Small stock cart | Unit-level restocking | 1 per unit | Any unit without a dedicated cart |
Building Safety Stock From Your Own Consumption Data
The table is a starting frame; overwrite it with your own figures once you have a clean month of data. Count how many units of one item a unit actually consumed in a month, divide by resident-days, and you have a consumption rate you can multiply by the days of cover you want to hold.
Two homes with identical censuses can land on very different rates, because care mix drives everything. A dementia unit with heavy continence care pulls far more overnight briefs and 60x90 cm underpads than a rehabilitation floor of the same size. That is why a supplier case size or a neighbouring home's order should never be the safety-stock figure on its own — case size sets how you round; your own usage sets the level. For a planning reference, the 2026 benchmark on what Canadian LTC homes spend on incontinence supplies gives a range to compare against, not a target to copy.
The Quarterly Audit Rhythm
Once a quarter, reconcile three things for every line: physical count, consumption for the period, and the trigger written on the sheet. Triggers drift for legitimate reasons — a resident with higher absorbency needs, a change in night staffing, an outbreak that doubles wipe and glove use — and a quarterly pass catches that drift before it becomes a stockout. Between audits, run a short monthly count of the ten highest-turnover lines, and keep the printed checklist on the stock cart with a master copy held by the inventory lead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should an LTC home audit incontinence supply usage?
Run a full usage audit once a quarter and a shorter count every month. The quarterly pass resets your safety-stock days against real resident-day consumption; the monthly count catches drift in sizes before it becomes a stockout.
What is a reorder trigger and why does every item need one?
A reorder trigger is the stock level at which someone is required to place an order, written down rather than left to memory. Setting it in days of coverage, not case counts, keeps the rule meaningful when census or a care plan changes.
Why do overnight briefs and underpads run out more than day-use briefs?
They sit on the unit cart and are rarely counted by whoever places the order. Night staff pull them, day staff assume the order is already in, and the gap only surfaces when the cart is empty.
Should safety stock come from our own consumption or a supplier case size?
Base it on your own consumption per resident-day, then adjust for case size so you are not forced to over-order. Two homes with the same census can differ sharply by care mix, so a shared benchmark is a starting point only.
Related supplies for this workflow: Heavy-Absorbency Disposable Underpads (30x36 in) is stocked in our Ontario warehouse and ships across Canada.
Restock the List, Not the Memory
The homes that stay stocked are not ordering more — they are watching a shorter, plainer list with a trigger on every line. Set your days-of-cover figures from your own consumption, then audit the list once a quarter. CliniEco Medical supplies Canadian long-term care homes with adult briefs, underpads in common LTC sizes, and the point-of-care consumables that sit alongside them, so the restocking list runs through fewer supplier touchpoints.
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