Drug administration and control in a large mental retardation facility

Better control and more accurate drug dosing in the large institution has long been needed. This project focused on the proven unit dose concept with variations for the long-term care institution. The system described serves a client population of 875 mentally retarded persons. Operation and maintenance of the system requires a staff of three FTE pharmacists and three FTE pharmacy technicians. The concept is based on a 72-hour exchange cycle and features the use of a 3-day carrier package for each oral solid medication dispensed. Single dose identification provides pharmacy personnel with the capability to closely monitor drug administration activities. For example, omitted doses can be readily linked to a specific date and time of occurrence. Single doses are dispensed into separate dosing sections, even though several tablets or capsules may be required for one dose. The package design additionally permits first-dose administration times to be programmed by the pharmacist in order to minimize delays in starting newly prescribed medications, such as antibiotics. Use of the package eliminates the need to purchase tablets and capsules in commercial unit dose form. It is also unnecessary to buy automatic packaging equipment. The entire process is adaptable to both manual and computerized pharmacy systems.