Hospital Pharmacy Service: Facing the logistics of medicines procurement.
COVID crisis has abruptly broken into our hospitals, and many difficulties have emerged, including those related to supply logistics. A huge number of new patients, a fast internal reorganization process and many other changes were suddenly established. These circumstances revealed the need to increase stocks of drugs, both for basic treatment as well as for specific SARS-CoV-2 infection management. At the same time, other problems (shortages, new and complex purchasing procedures, etc.) surfaced, so they could risk safety along the pharmacotherapeutic process. The main objective was to develop and implement all the necessary measures within the logistics circuit in order to ensure the availability of medicines for patients, as safely and effectively as possible, during the Coronavirus crisis. Firstly, two pharmacists were appointed to coordinate the whole process, and a preliminary analysis of the following aspects was carried out an estimation of needs to make an initial drug provisioning, a storage feasibility study and a global analysis of the logistics process to detect critical points. Three different circuits for medicines supply were established as some drugs were operated by Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (AEMPS) or Servicio Madrileño de Salud (SERMAS), and others were under no restrictions. For stocks control, inventory was frequently reviewed and monitoring of prescription trends was implemented. For all new medicinal products, compliance with security standards was reviewed and relabeling was carried out if necessary. Criteria were defined for the storage of overstocks and it was placed an isolated area for quarantined drugs. Shortages inevitably occurred but their effects were partly mitigated by AEMPS and SERMAS. After all, we consider that the implemented procedure for logistics management may be reproducible, and the key points we have identified are the following: to enhance our quality management system, to develop an Action Plan for Healthcare Emergencies and to ensure the adequate training for all pharmacy staff. Furthermore, we also should address other aspects: to establish storage optimization strategies, to focus on a more advanced logistics management model, as well as to take advantage of the extraordinary multidisciplinary network, which has been consolidated during this COVID pandemic.
Carmen Palomar-Fernández, Ana Álvarez-Díaz