In this article, we take an in-depth look at the process of medicine returns and their restocking in hospital pharmacies.
To begin, let’s first ask: why are medicines returned to inpatient pharmacies? To answer this, it helps to understand how medicines are initially dispensed. An inpatient pharmacy functions much like a warehouse. It receives medication orders for admitted patients, processes them, and dispenses the required drugs. These drugs are stored in automated retrieval systems (e.g. automated carousels, Swisslog BoxPicker, PillPick, etc.) that optimize both space and retrieval time. With this brief background, let’s discuss the reasons for medicine returns, and how each automated retrieval system poses unique challenges when handling returns. Read More >
