Blogs
November 22, 2024 / November 22, 2024 by Intelliguard
ASHP Midyear 2024 Clinical Meeting and Exhibition is a tremendous opportunity to recognize the incredible impact pharmacists and pharmacy technicians make on patient care across healthcare settings. The gathering of more than 20,000 pharmacy professionals also provides a unique opportunity for peers to make key connections, engage, and build knowledge in their continued pursuit to ensure that medication management and use will be optimal, safe, and effective for everyone.
As our team prepares to join the industry’s leading experts from around the globe, we’ll be tuned into the presentations and conversations that will help us all understand more about the future of pharmacy operations and medication management. Heading in, we’ve noticed four important trends standing out.
Going to ASHP Midyear 2024? Visit the Intelliguard team at booth #300 to learn more about the Mira Ecosystem.
Hospital supply chain management has long been complex. Disparate systems and the lack of interoperability have only heightened the complexity.
In 2019, Vizient reported that to manage shortages, U.S. hospitals are estimated to spend close to $360 million each year and dedicate more than 8.6 million additional labor hours.
Those are just a few of the reasons we were excited to see ASHP Midyear 2024 programming focus on hospital supply chain management and the link between analytics and drug management. If you weren’t already planning to, consider checking out these two ASHP Midyear 2024 sessions:
We know data analytics can provide powerful insights that can better inform hospital supply chain management and help health systems respond to drug shortages more quickly. Interoperable systems, RFID-powered tracking, and supply chain analytics software can enable an end-to-end view of inventory and provide usage trends to help hospital systems gain improved visibility, including precise locations and amounts of the meds they have available, to anticipate system-specific challenges that may occur. Additionally, when inventory managers have a better line of sight to available product and can anticipate usage, they are empowered to make objective decisions about product ordering and allocation.
Management of controlled substances and drug diversion prevention have been and remain critical issues for health system pharmacists. That’s why we recommend checking out these related ASHP midyear 2024 sessions:
It is estimated that roughly 10 percent of healthcare workers will divert opioids or other substances at some point in their professional careers. Health systems can make gains in drug diversion prevention and realize significant increases in charge capture and cost savings if they are able to track controlled substances in real time.
Intelliguard’s RFID-enabled Mira Care Station can track medication dispensing, usage, returns, and narcotic waste disposal automatically in real time. The simple, intuitive medication station requires a secure log-in that details who is removing medications and when, and tracks medications with unparalleled accuracy. Its integration with a health system’s EHR also enables immediate case identification and charge capture, further supporting drug diversion prevention.
Pharmacy optimization and data management also will be in the spotlight at ASHP midyear 2024. Multiple events across the week highlight the value of analytics and data in pharmacy operations, including:
At Intelliguard, we understand the need to help hospital pharmacies further optimize their operations via data capture and analytics. Leveraging data from supply chain analytics software can help transform pharmacy workflows and improve operational efficiency. These changes can drive benefits across operations, including ordering, processing, and inventory management.
Changes like these can save pharmacists time while containing costs and reducing waste. With the right system in place to provide real-time tracking and inventory insights, hospital systems can:
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the trends we’ve already named tie directly to a fourth trend – workforce wellbeing. Enhanced data management and analytics lead to improvements to hospital supply chain management that can optimize workflows and workforce wellbeing. We’re happy to see workforce wellbeing as a prevalent topic at ASHP midyear 2024, including at these sessions:
The ASHP National Survey of Pharmacy Practice in Hospital Settings in 2022 reported that various aspects of burnout were being measured in 34 percent of hospitals. Inefficient workflows and heavy workloads can strain medical staff, leading to burnout and turnover, which can further disrupt operations. Harkening back to an earlier theme we’re watching, some professionals have linked staffing shortages to increased drug diversion.
Optimizing workflows with solutions such as Mira Prep can help staff eliminate repetitive tasks, avoid errors, and save time. Like all of our colleagues at ASHP midyear 2024, we want to be sure pharmacists have the best tools and resources to enable them to practice at the top of their licenses, perform their jobs well, and feel satisfied in their roles.
We’re looking forward to all ASHP midyear 2024 has to offer related to these trends and more. These are important issues we need to work as an industry to solve. And, when 25,000 of the world’s foremost experts on these topics come together, “There’s Nothing Like It.”
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