Impact of Mobile Dose-Tracking Technology on Medication Distribution at an Academic Medical Center

Medication dose-tracking technologies have the potential to improve efficiency and reduce costs associated with re-dispensing doses reported as missing. Data describing this technology and its impact on the medication use process are limited.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of dose-tracking technology on pharmacy workload and drug expense at an academic, acute care medical center.

Dose-tracking technology was implemented in June 2014. Pre-implementation data were collected from February to April 2014. Post-implementation data were collected from July to September 2014. The primary endpoint was the percent of re-dispensed oral syringe and compounded sterile product (CSP) doses within the pre- and post-implementation periods per 1,000 discharges. Secondary endpoints included pharmaceutical expense generated from re-dispensing doses, labor costs, and staff satisfaction with the medication distribution process.

We observed an average 6% decrease in re-dispensing of oral syringe and CSP doses from pre- to post-implementation (15,440 vs 14,547 doses; p = .047). However, when values were adjusted per 1,000 discharges, this trend did not reach statistical significance (p = .074). Pharmaceutical expense generated from re-dispensing doses was significantly reduced from pre- to post-implementation ($834,830 vs $746,466 [savings of $88,364]; p = .047). We estimated that $2,563 worth of technician labor was avoided in re-dispensing missing doses. We also saw significant improvement in staff perception of technology assisting in reducing missing doses (p = .0003), as well as improvement in effectiveness of resolving or minimizing missing doses (p = .01).

The use of mobile dose-tracking technology demonstrated meaningful reductions in both the number of doses re-dispensed and cost of pharmaceuticals dispensed.