Medication safety is a top concern in healthcare environments today. Mistakes in prescription dispensing, including errors in quantity and dosage can lead to serious health problems for patients, or even death.
This is especially the case when it comes to controlled drugs (CDs). These must be stored securely and handled carefully, requiring specific processes and detailed records of access.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) and General Pharmaceutical Committee (GPhC) also have roles to play in regulating the framework and the practitioners who are handing CDs.
Thankfully, costly mistakes can be avoided with a medicine stock management system. Here’s how:
Ensure secure drug storage
There are many specific processes involved with handling controlled drugs, such as mandatory record keeping and staff training which take up time and resources in busy pharmacies and hospitals.
A medicine stock management system, streamlines this process, replacing manual systems and improves the efficiency of controlled drug management. Controlled Drugs can only be accessed by authorised staff and require secondary authorisation from another clinician.
Improve patient safety
Almost 1,700 lives are lost each year because of poor medicine stock management and avoidable prescribing errors. So when it comes to filling prescriptions accurately, and in doing so in a way that can improve patient health, a medication stock management system is a good choice.
Medicines Inventory Control System (MICS) is a stock management system that uses barcode tracking and Smart Locker technology to manage controlled medications. Each product type is allocated a secure Smart Cupboard (location). The process then simply requires for items to be barcode scanned, using an Android smartphone, tablet or PDA. As items are scanned the correct door opens and can be loaded – stock is then added to the database.
When controlled drugs are dispensed the system requires that another authorised person enter their unique PIN. This gives traceability of who prescribed what drugs and when, and who authorised them.
Compliance
The medical field is a highly regulated industry. Due to the fact that many healthcare professions have access to controlled substances, it is required by law for care providers, medical clinics, hospitals and pharmacies to report any medicines that have been lost or misplaced. Without an accurate, up-to-date stock management system, you could be vulnerable to issues due to theft, and face legal liabilities.
Complete audit trail
An efficient system keeps track of every asset you have and enables real-time audits.
See where each dose is kept, when it expires and where the demand is to reduce medication waste and ensure clinicians and doctors have access to the prescriptions patients need.
An automated system can help reduce costly medical waste, expiration tracking. Misplaced or lost waste is reduced through systems that automate the process of managing patient specific drugs within the dispensing.
Comprehensive records of exactly what has been checked out, when and by whom, enable a full audit trail.
We undertook research into prescription management and dispensing in hospitals, pharmacies and healthcare environments in the UK and found that cost savings could be made and patient care improved through the use of an effective medicine stock management system.
Read our detailed report for free here: https://expd.co.uk/mics-report/
For more information about MICS, download our brochure or contact our team for an online demo.
