Skip to content

DOSE-DISPENSED MEDICINE IN SECTOR TRANSITIONS BETWEEN HOSPITAL AND HOME

European Statement

Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

Author(s)

Anette Thomsen, Sarah Mejlvang, Maria Grønkjær

Why was it done?

Automatic multidose Dispensing System (ADS) was implemented in April 2024 in the Hospital Pharmacy Central Denmark Region.
Before the implementation, new software functionalities were developed in the medication module (MEM) of the electronic patient record. The development included creation of new workflows in the wards and in the Pharmacy. A new functionality makes it possible for nurses and pharmaconomists at the hospitals to manually order dose-dispensed medicine (DDM) to patients who are discharged from the wards. The orders are sent from MEM to the ADS on one patient for a given time period. Medication can be ordered hourly until noon.

What was done?

Medicine for 1-5 days of use can be dose-dispensed (DD) for the patients ready for discharge, which gives the following advantages:
-Improved patient safety. The transition from hospital to home now uses a concept regarding DDM that is known in the primary healthcare sector.
-Increased time for the patient to buy new medication at a local pharmacy after discharge.
-Extra time for newly added/removed drugs to be incorporated in future DDM from local pharmacies.
-Less time spent by nurses dispensing medicine for patients who are being discharged.

How was it done?

To support patients in the transition between hospital and home it has been important to make an easy way to order and dispense medication. Following developing tasks has been made:
-Identification of needed functionalities
– Identification of necessary IT-support
– Requirement for ADS
-Developments in MEM Development and implementation of new workflows in the clinic
All points were created in collaboration between doctors, nurses, IT specialists and pharmacy staff.
The development took around one year

What has been achieved?

All clinical wards that receive DDM can now manually order DDM for patients who are on their way home. This is a great help in the clinics.

What next?

Extending the timespan in which it is possible to order DDM to patients who are being discharged is planned.
Qualitative studies in patient safety for patients receiving dose dispensed medicine in the transition between Hospital and home is considered.

Rethinking the drug concept – the future medication logistics

Pdf

PDF Icon

European Statement

Clinical Pharmacy Services

Author(s)

Cathrine Noergaard Peulicke, Michelle Lyndgaard Nielsen

Why was it done?

The process of building a new hospital has led to development and rethinking the drug concept. At the hospital we always have “the patient first” in mind. This is our codex. That is why we are changing the concept for delivery, dispensing and administration of medication. We wanted to ensure that the concept functioned from a patient safety perspective, patient flow perspective, patient involvement perspective, professional development perspective and perspective of a healthy operation. The vision is the right medication, from the right hand at the right time.

What was done?

At the new hospital, the medication logistics will undergo major changes. There will only be medication for acute use at the wards, the rest will be delivered ready-to-use from the main pharmacy or from a decentralised unit, called Pharmaservice. Here IV-solutions with short expiration are being reconstituted and oral solutions are dosed according to the prescription. Tablets and capsules are dispensed in the multi-dose robot at the main pharmacy. The multi-dose medication is equipped with a bar code which is scanned at administration and full electronic documentation is obtained. The majority of the medication will be dispensed daily for 24 hours and delivered in boxes for each patient to the wards.
In order to ease the transformation, we have built a mock up of a Pharmaservice unit where this set-up is enrolled to all inpatient wards in the hospital on the geriatric ward, children’s ward and gynaecology and obstetrics ward.

How was it done?

A steering group was founded and membered by managers from the involved wards including the hospital Pharmacy. Frequent meetings with the involved wards has been necessary to ensure competences and communication. Post-implementation we are closely evaluating the initiative.

What has been achieved?

Patient safety is in focus and with the multi-dose dispensing robot we have achieved full electronic documentation from the prescription, dispensing and administration process, and thereby have reached closed loop medication.

What next?

Having implemented the initiative on three wards, we are now working on enrolling this to the entire new hospital when it is ready in 2024. At the new hospital, we will have five Pharmaservice units servicing all inpatient wards.

×

EAHP Forum

All the EAHP team is working on providing a Forum that can help connect all the members in Conversations and Groups to talk about important matters for the European Hospital Pharmacist.

The Forum will be accessible for all the EAHP members, you don’t have to create a new account to browse and participate.

Conversations and groups

The Conversations will be moderated by our team to provide documents and relevant topics for the community.

The Groups will connect all members that share a category. Members who work on the same assocation, on the same hospital, that have the same role, etc.

Stay tuned for the realase of the forum. Soon on EAHP.