Implementation and financial analysis of an operating room satellite pharmacy

The rationale and implementation of an operating room (OR) pharmacy satellite is described, and the first-year savings are evaluated. The OR in an 874-bed university teaching hospital, consisting of 17 rooms for inpatients, 6 rooms for ambulatory patients, and a postanesthesia care unit, lacked comprehensive pharmacy services; this resulted in poor drug-use control and accountability, varied controlled-substance audit trails, and suboptimal patient services. A task force examined other institutions' OR pharmacy satellites and chose to implement a satellite that provides all pharmaceuticals and i.v. admixtures by using case trays for each surgical patient. One year after implementation of the satellite, inventory in the operating-room areas was reduced by 56.5%, annual pharmaceutical costs by 2.6% (adjusted for inflation), and average cost per patient by 8.0% (adjusted for inflation). First-year cost reductions and revenue identification exceeded operating costs for materials, supplies, and labor by $271,755. Implementation of an OR pharmacy satellite reduced the net cost of providing pharmaceutical services to the OR.