Business problem:
- Inpatient Pharmacy delays were delaying the discharge of patients affecting overall bed management and revenues of the hospital
- Excess inventory and shelf life management challenges including expiry of medicines
- High medication retrieval times post order resulting in delayed medication administration.
Medication errors in dispensing of medication resulting in Noncompliance to regulatory and JCI standards
Solution Approach:
- Extensive process studies and data collection to find the root cause and causal factors.
- Process mapping and Failure mode and effects Analysis (FMEA) for entire process from prescription to medication administration.
- Process re-engineering and process optimization through automation.
- Standardized process designed with JCI MMU chapter compliance.
- Implementing 6S across all pharmacies and enhanced visual management.
Key Outcome and benefits:
- Medication dispensing time reduction by 40%
- Inventory write-off reduced by 67%
- Reduction of medication dispensing error by 83%
- Compliance to JCI MMU chapter and other regulators.
