ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for the establishment of work mode of automatic dispensing system in large-scale integrated pharmacy. METHODS:Introducing the establishment and optimization situation of the automatic pharmacy dispensing system in the outpatient pharmacy of our hospital,changes of related deployment indexes before and after optimization were compared,and the main measures for improving the work efficiency of automatic dispensing system were explored. RE-SULTS:Based on setting and regularly adjusting stored drug varieties,numbers of occupied tracks and unbundled drug factors,de-signing deployment operation mode that the system automatically dispensing preparations to immediate-dispensing and pre-dispens-ing windows,establishing operational specifications and management refinement,the outpatient pharmacy had established automat-ic dispensing system with prescription deployment number more than 12000 pieces/d and optimized work mode. Compared with be-fore optimization,host,auxiliary and smart cabinet varieties were increased in the case of the same number of total staff,immedi-ate-dispensing windows were increased and pre-dispensing windows were decreased. Proportion of full-automatically-dispensed pre-scriptions was increased (up from 41.18% to 48.32%) in the case of total prescription increasing in peak hours,and numbers of hourly prescription deployment were increased in both immediate-dispensing and pre-dispensing windows. Average time to wait for medicine of patients was shortened(down from 5.63 min to 5.18 min),supplemental medicine error and inner errors rate of deploy-ment (down from 0.48% to 0.44%) were decreased (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS:The established automatic dispensing system mode can meet the needs of prescription deployment in large-scale integrated outpatient pharmacy,and improve the work efficiency by continually optimization.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Numerous medical conditions require timely medication administration in the emergency department (ED). Automated dispensing systems (ADSs) store premixed common doses at the point-of-care to minimize time to administration, but the use of such automation to improved time to medication administration has not been studied. Since vancomycin is a commonly used empiric antimicrobial, we sought to quantify the effect of using an ADS on time to drug delivery in patients presenting to the ED. The study aimed to determine the efficacy of utilizing an ADS to improve time to administration of vancomycin and determine any negative effects on dosing appropriateness.METHODS: The institional review board approved the retrospective quality improvement study took place in a single, urban academic tertiary care ED with an annual census of 80000. Study subjects were all patients receiving vancomycin for the management of sepsis between March 1 to September 30, 2008 and the same time period in 2009. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who received vancomycin within one hour of bed placement and the secondary outcome was dosing appropriateness.RESULTS: Sixty-three patients had weight and dosing information available (29 before and 34 after intervention) and were included in the study. Before intervention, no patient received vancomycin in less than 60 minutes, while after intervention 14.7％ of the patients received it in less than 60 minutes (difference in proportions 14.7％, 95％ CI 0.39％-30.0％, P=0.04). A similar proportion of the patients received correct dosing before and after intervention (44.8％ vs. 41.2％, difference in proportions 3.7％, 95％ CI -20.0％-26.7％, P=0.770).CONCLUSION: The use of an ADS may improve the timing of medication administration in patients presenting to the ED without affecting dosing appropriateness.