8 min.
April 4, 2024
New app reduces medicine waste
Text:
Karen Gahrn
Photo:
Andreas Bang Kirkegaard
Pharmacist Karin Aagot Møller Jørgensen and her colleagues at Aarhus University Hospital had long been trying to reduce medicine waste through education and posting, but too much medicine was still being discarded. An innovation day led to contact with Dias, who eventually developed an app that not only registers medication, but also makes it possible to share excess medicine between departments.
The app, called "Medicine Waste", quickly became a game changer. Where pharmacists previously had to manually record expiration dates on paper, they can now scan a barcode and the information is automatically recorded.
"We have created an integration so that master data via the GTIN number is transferred directly to the pharmacy's purchasing system," describes Rune Rask, Software Developer at DIAS, Central Denmark Region.
We have created an integration so that master data is transferred directly to the pharmacy's purchasing system via the GTIN number.
SHORT ABOUT 'HRM EXPIRATION'
- The app is developed by the Dias team at the Central Denmark Region's IT department in collaboration with Regionsapoteket Midtjylland (RAM).
- HRM stands for Hospitalsapoteket Region Midtjylland
- Today, the app is available to all 370 medicine rooms in the five hospital units in the Central Denmark Region, and the plan is to roll it out to other regions - and possibly other areas such as medical devices.
Faster and more error-free
Registering medicine expiries used to be a time-consuming task that could take up to four hours. With the app, the work is now over twice as fast and the risk of errors is minimized. The system marks medicines approaching their expiration date in different colors - red for expiration within one month, yellow for one to three months and grey for longer shelf life.
A key feature of the app is the ability to "free up" medication. If a department decides it doesn't have time to use a package, it can be made available to other departments via the app. Another department can then reserve the medicine, reducing waste and saving money. In just 16 months, hospitals have reallocated 5,600 packages of medicine.
Registering medicine expiries used to be a time-consuming task that could take up to four hours. With the app, the work is now over twice as fast and the risk of errors is minimized. The system marks medicines approaching their expiration date in different colors - red for expiration within one month, yellow for one to three months and grey for longer shelf life.
A key feature of the app is the ability to "free up" medication. If a department decides it doesn't have time to use a package, it can be made available to other departments via the app. Another department can then reserve the medicine, reducing waste and saving money. In just 16 months, hospitals have reallocated 5,600 packages of medicine.
Ready for deployment
The app has caused a stir both internally and externally and has won two digital awards in the Central Denmark Region. The Initiative Award in competition with 50 other projects - and an Audience Award for Best Production.
The next step is for 'HRM Outlet' to be rolled out to other regions. The question is whether the solution should be sold as it is so that the regions can continue to develop it themselves, or whether a national solution should be developed.
- I'm in favor of the national solution because we in the regions all too often start from scratch by reinventing the wheel," says Karin Aagot Møller Jørgensen.
At the same time, the developers also see opportunities to expand the app to a wide range of other areas, such as medical devices. With the existing GS1 DataMatrix standard already ensuring accurate data, there is great potential to streamline even more processes in hospitals.
Ultimately, it's the standard and the data matrix that made the whole project possible.
- The fact that there is an international standard and a legal requirement for all medicine packages to be labeled is the whole basis for the app, emphasizes Rune Dalsenni Rask.
When Karin Aagot Møller Jørgensen looks at the entire process today, she is enthusiastic about the collaboration between pharmaconomists and developers. She describes the program as a perfect balance between technical insight and practical understanding.
- We wanted a kind of Tinder app for medicine expiration. We wanted it to be easy and fun, and we wanted to be able to just swipe. What we have today is much better than Tinder.
SHORT ABOUT 'HRM EXPIRATION'
- The app is developed by the Dias team at the Central Denmark Region's IT department in collaboration with Regionsapoteket Midtjylland (RAM).
- HRM stands for Hospitalsapoteket Region Midtjylland
- Today, the app is available to all 370 medicine rooms in the five hospital units in the Central Denmark Region, and the plan is to roll it out to other regions - and possibly other areas such as medical devices.
