Pilot review into outreach sites’ medication procurement process , enabling better medication management.
Saba Farbiz1, Loesje Scholz11NSW Health, Corowa, NSW, Australia
Abstract
Many Australian rural hospitals have very limited if any access to an on-site Pharmacist. Rural hospitals with on-site pharmacists may only have part time pharmacy services, but they provide an invaluable clinical service. In the absence of a pharmacist, hospital nurses may be required perform essential duties related to medication supply that are not part of their standard professional duties.
As a case study: one of Murrumbidgee Health District hospitals was without a pharmacist for two years. Upon commencement, the incumbent pharmacist noticed significant overstocking, the presence of expired medication, and a disorganised imprest. After consultation with the Pharmacy outreach team, Nurse Unit Manager and Cluster Manager, a plan for complete review and re-organisation of imprest was undertaken. This resulted in $13 580.05 worth of medications to be re-purposed at larger sites and $4604.45 of expired medication discarded. Procurement and medication administration procedures were also reviewed to prevent the overstocking and suboptimal stock rotation from occurring again. Education of nursing staff on ordering procedures as well as education of pharmacy technicians to review and question excess supply requests was implemented. Imprest lists are also being standardised across the district for consistency and improved patient safety.
The site where this review and re-organisation has occurred has enabled better stock management, more timely delivery of appropriate medication for patient utilisation and cost containment of the medication budget.
By completing this pilot study, it has shown that if this review of imprests was replicated across Murrumbidgee’s 29 outreach sites this would result in a potential saving of around $450 000.00 for the district.
Biography
Saba Farbiz is a clinical outreach pharmacist at Murrumbidgee health district. She completed her Bachelor Pharmacy at Monash university 2018, and her Graduate certificate in pharmacy care at Monash university in 2019. Now is completing her last year of Clinical pharmacist master’s degree from Monash university. Saba is specializing in general medicine, Palliative care, and mental health.
Loesje Scholz is currently The Murrumbidgee Local Health District NSW Medicines Formulary Change Lead.
Loesje is responsible for ensuring a safe, effective and efficient transition from the existing local formulary into the new NSW Medicines Formulary across all MLHD sites.
Loesje is a Pharmacist with 14 years’ experience in hospital and community pharmacy practice.
Before joining MLHD, she was the Pharmacist-In-Charge at Albury Wodonga Private Hospital and a Senior Oncology Pharmacist at The Border Cancer Hospital.