Efficient Management of Blood Preparations Using Prescription Labels Printed by Automatic Injection Dispenser

In September 1997, the Ministry of Health and Welfare imposed new guidelines for the making and keeping documentary records for blood preparations. Medical staff members should carefully register not only the product name, the dispensed day, and the patient's name but also the lot number. It takes more time to complete these tasks than it does to document a narcotic drug supply. In our hospital, pharmacists copy down a prescription whenever it is dispensed, and blood preparations are now carefully documented according to the newly established guidelines.This report concerns the new system for the management of blood preparations using prescription labels printed by an Automatic-Injection Dispenser with an Injection Order System, which was first introduced in November 1997. Compared with the former system, the time required to record the information decreased from 51 to 28 seconds per case. The work of sorting and binding the copied prescriptions by drugs and dates could also be eliminated using this system. In the future, due to limitations in both time and the number of staff members, finding more efficient wags to record such information, such as described with this system will greatly enhance the ability of hospital pharmacists to improve patient services.