The Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital, attached to the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, has completed the modernization process of the Pharmacy Service. An improvement that, through the application of cutting-edge technology, has allowed the implementation of an automated system for the storage and dispensing of medications in order to increase efficiency and safety in their use and guarantee their traceability until the moment of administration.
Twenty-four automatic drug dispensing systems
The Molina Orosa, within the Dragodosis project promoted by the Canary Islands Health Service for the modernization of hospital pharmacy services, began with the implementation of five automatic drug dispensing systems, also called intelligent cabinets, in the clinical units of Resuscitation, ICU and Emergency.
In a second phase, twelve more teams were added, including those of the hospital units of Surgery, Internal Medicine, Gynecology, Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Operating Room and in the Acute Unit of the Insular Hospital.
The robotization process was completed with the recent installation of four dispensing cabinets in the Insular Hospital and three in the Molina Orosa: one in the delivery room, another in the new Hemodynamics Unit and the last one in Palliative Care and Home Hospitalization.
This process has involved the reorganization of the human resources of the Pharmacy Service to facilitate the effectiveness of the work.
Intelligent cabinets
Automatic drug dispensing systems allow storing and dispensing a large number of medications in the clinical units of hospital centers and provide healthcare personnel with immediate access to drugs at the time the patient needs them.
These intelligent cabinets are connected to the medical prescription, so they dispense the medication prescribed by the specialist to the patient at all times, which makes them very safe storage and dispensing systems.
Global modernization process
Within the global modernization process of the pharmacy, storage has also improved with the installation of two carousels, one horizontal and one vertical refrigerated for medications that must be kept cold.
These carousels are semi-automatic storage systems that replace the old shelves, allow greater control of the stock and have the traceability of the products that are stored and kept in the service.
Also, a robot has been installed for the automatic storage and dispensing of medication for external patients and work is being done on the installation of an ATM that allows these users to have access to their treatment outside of morning hours when their circumstances require it.
On the other hand, it includes the robotization and digitization of the repackaging process, which allows the Pharmacy Service to dispense and distribute medications in unit doses.
A pioneering service
The Pharmacy of Molina Orosa has been a pioneer in implementing a safe medication administration system through code reading, in day hospitals and in the Oncology and Hematology Hospitalization units.
The method called 'Positive Administration' is designed for nursing staff, through tablets, to validate the administration of the drug and record the incidents that occur during it. In addition, the device identifies the traceability of cytostatics and dangerous drugs from the beginning of the process to administration to the patient.
The head of the Pharmacy Service, Carmen Villastrigo, values the modernization of the Service, which results in continuous improvement in the use of medications, efficiency and safety, while highlighting the fundamental role that the pharmacy plays in the daily work of the hospital center.
The Pharmacy Service in figures
The Pharmacy Service is made up of a team of seven pharmacists, seven nurses, ten pharmacy assistants, two orderlies and three administrative assistants.
Throughout last year, this service dispensed more than 1,330,000 unit doses of medications to more than twenty-five thousand patients from Lanzarote hospitals, and covered twenty-three thousand dispensations of drugs to about four thousand external patients.
In addition, the Pharmacy team prepared in that year around eleven thousand preparations of intravenous mixtures, mostly chemotherapy, for oncohematological patients and the Day Hospital of Molina Orosa.
