How Does Your Pharmacy Respond to Drug Recalls?
Hospira, Inc., a Pfizer company, announced a voluntary recall of one lot of Magnesium Sulfate in Water for Injection. The error, an incorrect barcode on the primary bag labeling, was caught by a customer, who promptly notified the company. However, had the customer not found the error, there could have been horrible far-reaching consequences, since the lot had been distributed nationwide to wholesalers, distributors and hospitals, from September 2015 to November 2015.
Fortunately, for patients, hospitals and Hospira, there have been no reports of anyone experiencing adverse events associated with this lot. But there could have been. Magnesium Sulfate in Water for Injection is used in the prevention and control of seizures in preeclampsia and eclampsia patients. Patients who are delayed in receiving Magnesium Sulfate in Water for Injection can experience serious and life-threatening issues, including:
- Seizures
- Strokes
- Cerebral Hemorrhages
- Death
- Harm or Death to the Fetus
Hospitals With Intelliguard® RFID Solutions Can Respond to Recalls in Seconds
According to research performed by the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS), drug recalls have skyrocketed in recent years. In order to protect patients and ensure recalled drugs are removed before they create a life-threatening event or legal situation, many hospitals and pharmacies are using RFID technology, such Intelliguard® RFID Solutions.
RFID Aids Total Recall
The Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System provides item level tracking of drugs, right down to the lot number. RFID equips hospitals with unprecedented levels of visibility to quickly identify and locate whether they have the recalled drug(s) in inventory, and if so, where it is located in the hospital.
In the absence of technology solutions, pharmacy staff are tasked with the time-consuming job of manually checking each and every tray, cart and location where recalled medications might be. Then, they must compare lot numbers – which opens the door to dangerous and costly human errors.
Game On: Check Your Brain’s Ability to Avoid Medication Mistakes
Respond to a Drug Recall: Easy as 1, 2, 3
Hospitals that employ RFID technology, like Intelliguard® RFID Solutions, have an easy three step process when it comes to responding to drug recalls:
1. Pharmacy staff enter the lot number, drug name or manufacturer name of the recalled drug(s) into the system.
2. The system scans the entire database of drugs in the hospital and provides a detailed report of recalled products in inventory, as well as locations of recalled inventory, such as Anesthesia Tray 7, or Crash Cart 11.
3. A staff member takes the “roadmap” of the recalled drug and quickly locates and removes all recalled items from circulation.
For bulk inventory that is not yet in circulation, pharmacists have the further protection of “locking” a lot number in the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System. This assures that if this specific lot number is used to replenish a tray in the future, staff is immediately alerted and must remove the drug(s) before completing the replenishment and approving the kit or tray.
>> See The Last Mile for RFID-Enabled Kit and Tray Management – The Intelliguard Virtual Log Book
Don’t Compromise: Humans plus Technology Are More Powerful Than Either Is Alone
RFID technology in health system pharmacies automates, validates and eases workflow processes to reduce speed response times and reduce the occurrence of human errors. In recall situations, time is frequently of the essence. Enterprise visibility of inventory and machine verified workflows allow quick response and prevent mistakes or oversights that can cause a hazard.
>> See Patient safety driving increased RFID use in hospitals
The main goal of Intelliguard® RFID Solutions is to equip health system pharmacists with reliable insight, machine verified workflows and actionable information to assure unreliable inventory can be identified and removed so that a patient’s health and safety is never compromised.
"The Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System enables us to prevent errors, improve inventory management, and eliminate recalled drugs quickly, before they become a problem,” said Dr. Kenneth H. Schell, Pharmacist-in-Chief at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California.
Would you like to learn more?
