Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Verifies Patient Orders with Datalogic Bar code Readers

Apoteket Ensures ‘The Right Medicine for the Right Patient’ with Datalogic Scanning’s Gryphon™ Bar Code Readers

Overview

Apoteket is a non-profit pharmaceutical production and distribution center located in Stockholm, Sweden. The company produces both prescriptions and over-the-counter medications for local residents. It is Apoteket’s mission to provide patients with the correct medication, in the proper dosage, at the right time. Since Apoteket is state-owned, it also acts as a ‘communication hub’ between the government and nine million swedes to ensure that patients receive their medications without price variation throughout the country.

The Challenge

Apoteket has 28 production facilities that fill prescriptions for more than 150,000 patients residing in special care housing.

Since most of the patients are elderly, it is critical to deliver correct medications. “Failure to do so could be a matter of life and death,” says richard Hellström, technical Manager at Apoteket.

To eliminate the opportunity for errors at this critical point in production, Apoteket invested in a bar code system for prescription order verification. In this system, bar code scanners are used to read labels during production and packaging to verify that the selected medications are placed into the correct prescription package. the only problem was that the production operators struggled with the reading range and performance of Apoteket’s current scanning solution.

To enhance their system, Apoteket decided to invest in new bar code scanning technology. The production facilities needed a mobile solution with sufficient radio range to eliminate restraints caused by cabled devices. Additionally, the sheer production volume created the need for high performance bar code readers. Each production facility fills prescriptions for upwards of 8,000 patients with new orders arriving every two weeks. With a substantial amount of these orders coming through production, Apoteket required an extremely reliable solution with quick read rates to ensure pharmacists could work accurately and with little downtime.

The Solution

After careful testing, Apoteket selected the Datalogic Gryphon GD4100 and Gryphon GM4100 handheld bar code readers. Both readers are known for their lightweight and ergonomic design, which allows the pharmacists to work comfortably with the device for long hours. Furthermore, the extremely versatile and durable features of the Gryphon reader was perfect for Apoteket’s ‘light industrial’ production environment.

The Gryphon GM4100 reader in particular met Apoteket’s mobility requirements with cordless capabilities and sufficient radio communications provided by Datalogic’s Star cordless system™ radio. this radio system offers narrow radio communication for up to 30.0 m / 98.4 ft (in the 433 MHz option), which maximizes operator mobility for the most productive work environment.

Since the installation, the new Gryphon readers have significantly improved Apoteket’s production ordering and filling processes. When an order is entered into the computer system today, it is first verified by the pharmacist. After the order is cleared, it then moves into production where the prescription is packaged in individual bags or trays according to the order. the Gryphon readers scan the bar code labels each time a prescription is filled to ensure the order is accurate.

Before being sent to the special care facilities, the order is double-checked by several inspectors. At this stage, the individual prescription tablets are hand-counted in each bag and tray. By using a bar code-based tracking system, the percentage of mistakes is now very low and those that are found to be incorrectly counted are rectified here. At this stage, Apoteket can be confident that when the order leaves production, it is 100% accurate.

The Results

Datalogic Gryphon readers serve an important function in Apoteket’s pharmaceutical ordering process. By verifying the medications through production and packaging, Datalogic scanning is able to help Apoteket provide each patient with the correct medication in the correct dosage.

Pharmaceutical staff members at Apoteket are very pleased with the design of the Gryphon readers. According to Peter Skarin, technical Manager at Apoteket, “Ergonomics is very important for those who work in production. ergonomic and excellent performance are the two critical factors that make these readers perfect for our production.”

Additionally, Apoteket enjoys the versatility of the Gryphon GM4100 base station, which is mounted on the walls to create a clear workspace. they even ordered both colors (white and black) to visually define which side of the work row the scanner belongs.