Developing an electronic system to manage and track emergency medications.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2018
Identifier
DOI: 10.2146/ajhp160956
Abstract
PURPOSE: The development of a Web-based program to track and manage emergency medications with radio frequency identification (RFID) is described.
SUMMARY: At the Cleveland Clinic, medication kit restocking records and dispense locations were historically documented using a paper record-keeping system. The Cleveland Clinic investigated options to replace the paper-based tracking logs with a Web-based program that could track the real-time location and inventory of emergency medication kits. Vendor collaboration with a board of pharmacy (BOP) compliance inspector and pharmacy personnel resulted in the creation of a dual barcoding system using medication and pocket labels. The Web-based program was integrated with a Cleveland Clinic-developed asset tracking system using active RFID tags to give the real-time location of the medication kit. The Web-based program and the asset tracking system allowed identification of kits nearing expiration or containing recalled medications. Conversion from a paper-based system to a Web-based program began in October 2013. After 119 days, data were evaluated to assess the success of the conversion. Pharmacists spent an average of 27 minutes per day approving medication kits during the postimplementation period versus 102 minutes daily using the paper-based system, representing a 74% decrease in pharmacist time spent on this task. Prospective reports are generated monthly to allow the manager to assess the expected workload and adjust staffing for the next month.
CONCLUSION: Implementation of a BOP-approved Web-based system for managing and tracking emergency medications with RFID integration decreased pharmacist review time, minimized compliance risk, and increased access to real-time data.
Journal Title
American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Volume
75
Issue
5
First Page
304
Last Page
308
MeSH Keywords
Academic Medical Centers; Drug Therapy, Computer-Assisted; Electronic Prescribing; Emergency Medical Services; Humans; Medical Order Entry Systems; Pharmacy Service, Hospital; Program Development
Keywords
RFID; Web-based tracking; emergency medication
Recommended Citation
Hamm MW, Calabrese SV, Knoer SJ, Duty AM. Developing an electronic system to manage and track emergency medications. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2018;75(5):304-308. doi:10.2146/ajhp160956
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