In the pharmaceutical industry, inventory management is crucial.
Stock levels need to be accurate and regularly maintained, so that pharmacies can instantly identify when levels start to dip and restock before they run out of necessary supplies.
Some of the most common mistakes of pharmaceutical inventory management are human error, such as a failure to properly account for expired or damaged goods, and improper storage of raw materials.
Pharmacies are now taking advantage of automated medicine stock management, so that they can successfully ensure the current and anticipated demands of raw materials.
Effective pharmaceutical inventory management saves time, saves money, and gives patients a much better service.
To achieve and take advantage of automated medicine stock management, businesses need to investigate and determine the benefits of adopting a management system.
Medicine Stock Management
Medicines Inventory Control System (MICS) is a smart, secure, and safe medicine stock management solution for storing, tracking, and dispensing medication in pharmacies.
It leverages barcoded labels on medication bottles which contain important information, such as medication name, strength, serial number, and expiration date. This barcode is scanned to ensure the correct medication and dosage is dispensed.
Smart Lockers
MICS integrates seamlessly with Smart Lockers, increasing the effectiveness of managing medications in busy pharmacies.
Medical supplies can be identified by a unique batch number, code, and their expiry date.
The system tells the user which locker to store the medication in. When a medicine is ready to be dispensed or accessed, the app tells the user the exact bar code and where to get it from.
Pharmaceutical inventory management benefits:
Improves pharmacy security
The MICS Smart Locker will only open once the correct prescribing process has been followed. The software gives you complete visibility over the location of your medical supplies and who has accessed them.
Medicines can be inaccessible to all, except the issuing prescriber. A range of security levels are available for more secure items, such as a secondary authorisation PIN to access items deemed high risk.
Pharmaceutical inventory management is cost effective
MICS helps reduce stock wastage and the risk of expired stock being issued, as recalled batches can be identified immediately.
It delivers significant enhancements to the control of medicines, saves time, improves medicine stock management- minimising risk of theft, fraud, stock wastage and human error.
Smart Lockers can also reduce the burden of training staff on manual inventory management processes.
Kinder to the environment
MICS is more environmentally friendly, simple to learn and use than paper-based alternatives, resulting in less wastage.
Increases operational efficiency
Inventory can be managed by batch number, expiry date and time in stock.
This saves significant time, for example, unmanned lockers can help significantly reduce wait times at clinics. A patient can collect their medication, it is loaded into the locker and the system will send a text to the patient to notify them that their prescription is available.
Pharmaceutical inventory management reduces risks
MICS reduces reportable clinical incidents, such as prescribing errors and ensure that the correct dosage and medication is dispensed. It can also prevent the issuing of a life-threatening dose and costly claims.
Recalled batches of medical supplies can be instantly identified and you will be alerted as stock is nearing its expiry date.
For more information about our MICS system for pharmaceutical inventory management, please contact enquiries@expd.co.uk
