Pharmacies act as mediators between customers who buy drugs and medicine and pharmaceutical companies, which produce them. Fundamentally, there is the company dimension which deals with the pharma’s operations and processes in cost-effective ways. On the other hand, the customer dimension focuses on the delivery of goods and services of excellent quality. These operations have included various activities that have helped pharmacies generate their revenue and meet consumer needs. This can be achieved through the optimization of operations and developing an efficient supply chain.
Notably, thoroughly comprehending the internal processes of the supply chain is fundamental in improving the overall process within the pharmaceutical industry. It is crucial for the companies involved to understand each section of the supply chain and ensure that everyone knows what is expected of them. This will consequently help the stakeholders to implement the necessary changes that are required. Also, improving the supply chain requires all sections of the supply chain to share similar goals and further understand them to raise collaboration.
Information or computer technology has been embraced extensively in healthcare due to the automation of tasks and information processing. Some of the tasks include facilitating the conduction of routine, recurrent, and common roles with much accuracy, mass customization, and standardization as well as consistency (An, 2019). In addition, digitalization of processes such as data storage and structuration, providing prescriptions in electronic forms, automated dispensing of drugs made pharmacies much more efficient. Streamlining the supply chain was achieved with computer-based medicine handling and monitoring practices that provide the information on safety and effectiveness of medicine. The outcome is improved patient safety, which enables health care professionals to offer superior quality care to their patients and enable patients to maximize the effectiveness of their medicines.
Another trend is the pharmacists’ use of IT systems to support their work daily besides having a new system where they can consider what functions can be provided by the already existing systems. For instance, a good number of pharmacies in Miami-Dade and Broward counties use pharmacy management systems for keeping medication records, dispensing drugs, ordering, and stock control (Litvinova et al., 2018). The process of dispensing medicine through electronic systems and programs such as Electronic prescription service release 2, shows the reduced rates of errors compared to the manual dispensing. The system also efficiently utilizes the physical space of the pharmacy and increases speed of the medicine provision. In addition, the repayment processes and the nomination process may enable pharmacists to secure prescription business.
Electronic prescription system are also determine in reducing the amount of errors related to the administrative processes. It has been proven especially effective with conjunction with barcode medicine identification functions by improving the completeness of the medication history. Automation due to may further entail the use of mobile technology to monitor disease, medication adherence, and health education. Technologies provide pharmacies with the ability of providing on-demand service, which would minimize operations costs for the industry in general.
Therefore, technologies have allowed pharmacies to optimize supply chain management in the industry and effectively manage data to improve pharmacy operations. The use of barcode medicine identification and big data algorithms to predict the demand for the product provides streamlining pharmacy operations. Automation processes such as dispensing also improve the quality of the services provided by pharmacies and reduce errors, hence, save costs for the industry in general.
References
An, Y., Shen, Y., & Sun, H. (2019). Analysis of the practical effect of deep cooperation on hospital pharmacy supply chain. Journal of Pharmaceutical Practice, 91-93.
Litvinova, T. M., Glazkova, I. U., Kirillova, O. V., Smyslova, O. A., & Ermakov, D. A. (2018). Supply chain management in the hospital pharmacy. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, 10(6), 1354-1355.