Adopting an IV workflow management system (IV-WMS) helps pharmacies mitigate risk by allowing them to detect drug compounding errors before they reach the patient, potentially saving lives. As of 2020, 33% of hospital pharmacies have adopted IV workflow automation, a significant increase from only 8% of pharmacies in 2014.
While hospital pharmacies are increasingly realizing the benefits of adopting an IV workflow management system—including ensuring better drug quality, minimizing risk, and generating less waste—not all systems are created equal.
As hospitals weigh when to adopt an IV-WMS and which system to choose, here’s how it can immediately benefit your pharmacy and what to consider when purchasing a solution.
Batch Compounding & Patient-Specific Compounding in Action
Between the ongoing drug shortage and COVID-19 pandemic, your hospital pharmacy is likely doing more anticipatory batch compounding than before. From an efficiency/resource allocation standpoint, there is value in batching doses in an anticipatory fashion at the beginning of a shift/week that then become patient-specific doses with patient-specific labels.
How does your pharmacy sterile compounding service do that in the most efficient way? By batching doses ahead of time during downtime in the pharmacy. For example, the night shift can compound a batch, then put those finished compounds in the fridge. The next shift can then pull the finished compounds as needed and scan them into the patient-specific application as ingredients. The anticipatory batch information is electronically linked to the patient-specific dose within the Compounding Management System, so that you have consistency in the information. This is especially important for recall management.
Choosing an IV Workflow Management System
When it comes to choosing an IV workflow management system, there are many informative resources from industry associations and publications that can help you decide. The THRIV Coalition for IV Accuracy (of which ConsortiEX is a founding member) published a technology checklist to help pharmacies select an IV workflow management system.
Here are the five things you should look for when selecting an IV workflow management system.
Workflow Management Software
The foundation of an IV-WMS is process standardization - repeatable tasks that walk your staff step-by-step through creating sterile products . This ensures that the proper steps are completed and verified before allowing staff to move on to the next step.
The software should also be designed for compatibility with electronic health records and medication order systems for maximum efficiency.
Bar-Code Scanning
Manually verifying IV admixture ingredients isn’t a strong enough control against detecting and correcting errors. The Institute for Safe Medical Practices (ISMP) recommends bar code scanning to verify all base solutions and ingredients for compounded sterile preparations.
Volume Verification
Instead of using the pullback method, which is prone to human error, an IV-WMS lets you use in-process image capture or live video so that a second set of eyes can ensure the right drugs and volumes were used.
Auto-Labeling
Because bedside barcode scanning is such an important safety check for compounded sterile product preparation, a system that produces labels with barcodes that may be scanned at the bedside is imperative. An IV-WMS produces or verifies and activates bar-coded labels for final preparations.
Auto-Documentation and Audit Trails
Knowing who did what and when is crucial in case of a recall. Instead of having to track drug preparation manually—or not having the full picture at all—IV-WMS will make it easy by auto-documenting and time-stamping each step. It’s easy to see where something went wrong and make the necessary intervention.
Maximize Efficiency in Your Hospital Pharmacy
An IV workflow management system will optimize your batch compounding and create more efficiencies for patient-specific compounding. The Assure-Trak® Compounding Management System was designed to support high-volume anticipatory batch and patient-specific compounding, so that your pharmacy is always prepared to meet hospital demand.
Contact ConsortiEx today to learn more about how our Compounding Management System can help you assure patient safety, compliance and efficiencies within your health system.