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.