Key-Term | Description |
Inventory Goals | The goals of inventory management is two-fold: to ensure drugs are available when needed and that contract or special pricing is followed. |
Open Formulary | One that allows purchase of any medication that is prescribed. |
Closed Formulary | A limited list of approved medications. |
Wholesalers | More than three-quarters of pharmaceutical manufacturers' sales are directly to drug wholesalers,who in turn resell their inventory to hospitals,pharmacies,and other pharmaceutical dispensers. They are goverment-licensed and regulated. |
Schedule II Substances | Must be stocked separately in a secure place and require a special order form for reordering. their stock must be continually monitored and documented. |
Perpetual Inventory | A system that maintains a continuous record of every item in inventory so that is always shows the stock on hand. |
Spoilage | Inappropriate storage conditions or expired products auto-matically determine that a product is spoiled since in either case the chemical compounds in the drug product mayhave degraded. |
Turnover | The rate at which inventory is used. |
Point Of Sale (POS) system | A system in which the item is deducted form inventory as it is sold or dispensed. |
Drug reorder points | Maximum and minimum inventory levels for each drug. |
Hard Copy | Important reports (especially purchase orders) should be regularly printed out and filed as hard copy both for convenience and as a backup record-keeping system. |
Computer Maintenance | Factors that can damage computer systems are temperature,dust,mositure,movemen,vibrations,and power surges. |
Data back-up | pharmacy computer files must be regularly backed-up or copied to an appropriate storage media. |
Order Entry Device | In computerized inventory system,a hand-held device to generate orders. |
Online Ordering | In an online ordering system,if an order can be filled as ordered, a message from the supplier will automatically confirm the order to the ordering system. The system automatically assigns to each order a purchase order number for identification. |
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) | Instructions for hazardous substances such as chemotherapeutic agents that indicate when special handling and shipping is required.(OSHA) |
Controlled Substance Shipping | These substance are shipped separately and checked in by a pharmacist. A special order form must be used for Schedule II substances. |
Stock Bottles | The bulk containers in which most medications are received from the supplier. |
Storage | Drugs must be stored according to the manufacturer's specifications.Most drugs are kept in a fairly constant room temperature of 59'-86'F. The temperature of refrigeration should generally be 36'-46'F. |
Freshness | Medications should be organized in a way that will dispense the oldest items first. |
Dispensing Units | In hospitals and other settings, medications are stocked in dispensing units throughout the facility that may be called supply stations or med-stations. |
Automated dispensing system | Medications are dispensed at their point of use after an order has been confirmed and then communicated from a centralized computer system. |
Inventory | A list of goods or items a business uses in its normal operations. |
Purchase order number | A number assigned to each order for products that willallow it to be tracked and checked throughout the order process. |
Therapeutic equivalent | Pharmaceuticals that have the same effect in patients. |
Unit-dose | A package containing a single dose of medication. |
Formulary | A list of medications approved for use. |
Database | A collection of information structured so that specific information within it can easily be retrieved and used. |