Articles

Four ways to reduce medicine shortages in hospitals

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the recently worsening problems with the world medicine supply chain, which has led to frequent shortages of critical medicines in Australia. Many factors that contribute to medicine shortages, such as manufacturers’ production processes and business decisions, are outside the control of Australian stakeholders. But there are other factors that are within our control. A number of pragmatic strategies and actions have been explored which could achieve a significant reduction in the number and frequency of medicine shortages in Australian hospitals and reduce the negative impact on healthcare providers and patients.

Time-saving dispensary hack

Automation provides benefits, but it can also intensify any flaws in a pharmacy department’s systems and processes. That’s one of the reasons to get the basics in order before introducing major changes like robotics, writes Andrew Stewart and Michael Ryan of PharmConsult. In the first of a two-part series, they explain a high-impact improvement you can make to your pharmacy department, even if automation is not being considered at this stage.

Considerations for justifying medicines automation

Summary and take home messages from the PharmConsult 2018 Pharmacy Automation Symposium

PharmConsult 2018 Pharmacy Automation Symposium - summary notes

Chemotherapy compounding : ‘to TGA or not to TGA’

The vexed question of how to respond to the changes in reimbursement for compounding chemotherapy is exercising the minds of pharmacists and executives of many private and public hospitals. In the process, it has called into question the more important issues of quality and safety in chemotherapy compounding.

Benchmarking and hospital pharmacy

If benchmarking is regarded as a worthwhile exercise to improve performance, why isn’t more happening in benchmarking pharmacy and medicine management in hospitals?

Applying proved technologies to medicine use

‘There’s a time to automate, and there’s a time to refrain’

Biosimilars: the next big savings opportunity

The decision of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) to ‘a’ flag the new biosimilar to the originator brand of infliximab (a step which allows a pharmacist to substitute the biosimilar for the original biologic), provides a significant opportunity for savings for hospitals.

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