Inventory Overview: OPC Carousels

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great summer! Today I am going to describe to you pharmacy inventory at the University of Michigan Hospital. To begin, the hospital receives it's shipment of medications almost exclusively from the largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors: AmerisourceBergen, McKesson HBOC Inc., and Cardinal Health Inc. After delivery by either FedEx or UPS, it is up to pharmacy inventory carefully unpack the medications and place them on hospital transportation carts according to lot number. Why did I say carefully? This is because medications arriving to the hospital have specific conditions in which they have to handled. For instance, some medications arrive in Styrofoam refrigerated boxes and need to be placed in the refrigerator immediately after delivery. Other medications can be left at ambient temperature. Another important consideration is the handling of chemotherapy drugs. These drugs must be handled with great care as they can cause very hazardous conditions if exposed/opened up to the atmosphere and can even become deadly by destroying the human body's normal functioning cells. With chemotherapy drugs, safety is key! Once all the medications are unpacked onto the carts, they are scanned into an inventory-recording software call Omnicell. After scanning the bar-code of each medication, a sticker is printed out and placed on the medication indicating inventory personnel the storage location of the drug.
Alright, so all of this might sound very mundane but I haven't written about the coolest part yet: The UofM pharmacy department's OPC inventory control system! Continuing from the previous section, when the label prints, it often calls for the medication to be stored in one of three pharmacy department OPC carousels. Each of these so-called carousels span three stories high and operate four meter long horizontal storage shelves for drug storage. When receiving and stocking medications from initial inventory control, the carousel shelves move vertically, away from the user and into the ceiling. Additional shelves rotate up from the ground to the user controlling the carousel. To get a visual of the OPC carousel, I have included a picture. If you are somewhat of a technical or mechanical enthusiast, this machine is certainly one that will make your gears turn!
Aside from receiving and storing hundreds of medications each day, inventory is also responsible for replenishing "arrest" boxes that are returned from the hospital's various units. The hundred arrest boxes can be returned to pharmacy inventory for two reasons. First, the box could be used in an event of emergency and need its stock medication replenished. Second, the box could contain a medication that has expired and needs to be replaced. Medications that are included in these arrest boxes include amiodarone, naloxone, epinephrine, norepinephrine, magnesium sulfate, phenytoin, glucose, lidocaine, and calcium chloride among others. The arrest boxes also include multiple-gauge needles, multiple-volume syringes, IV piggyback bags, and IV base dilution solutions such as sodium chloride and sterile water. In summary, these kits are essential in the event of an emergency occurring anywhere in the hospital.
Overall, inventory has been a great experience for me. While not heavily clinical, I have learned a great deal about the logistical side of medication distribution and supply. For a majority of inpatient settings, patient care and recovery would be impossible if it weren't for the operation of a pharmacy inventory department indicating its immense importance. Stay tuned for my next blog entry that will include my patient-triaging experience!