• Hero Banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Buying or Selling a Practice
Hospital Design
Leadership & Personal Growth
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Technology
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Live Conferences
Conference News
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Put unused space to work as a central pharmacy

February 24, 2010
Angie Hartin

Scattered inventory and inefficient procedures cost you time and money. Here's a solution.

Our practice, like many, has found inventory management to be a challenge-we've heard plenty of stories abpout open antibiotics, outdated products, and practices running out of supplies. We grew tired of our six-month inventory counts being incorrect, so we took a huge leap and transformed an underused area of our building into a central pharmacy. We added a few cabinets and a pass-through window, and we soon had the answer to our problems. This centralized inventory area has reduced waste, errors, theft, product expiration, and overstocking.

We now keep all of our medications and medical and office supplies in our pharmacy. An inventory manager oversees the inventory for all five of our hospitals, making sure that each practice has the right products at the right time. Since our satellite locations are smaller than our main facility, we've found that we can keep some higher-ticket items at the main location and requisition them out to other clinics as needed. By taking this approach, we can ensure that we won't have an entire case of heartworm preventative sitting at a satellite, just a sleeve or two.

Here's how it works: A technician will enter a prescription into the computer and print a label in the pharmacy. Our full-time pharmacy worker fills the script while the client is checking out. The client then picks up the medications at the window. This process has greatly decreased client wait times and has improved our time studies. Unforeseen benefits have included fewer mistakes (what practice hasn't fielded a call from a client who says they received 500mg Keflex instead of 250mg?), higher internal controls (the pharmacy is locked and under 24-hour surveillance), a better system for controlled substances (we have several drawers that are counted, signed out, counted, and signed back in), and less waste for nonmedical products (no more ordering a case of brochures only to find half a case shoved in a corner in the back room).

Advertisement

Our facility had the space to make this transformation, but you don't need a large area to succeed. Many buildings have space that could be better utilized in this way. By moving all products to a single area, you can probably reduce the amount of “stuff” you keep on hand, and, therefore, you won't need as much space as you predict.

Angie Hartin is the assistant practice manager at Hawthorne Animal Hospital in Glen Carbon, Ill.

Related Content:

BusinessPractice OperationsBuying or Selling a Practice
CityVet names new chief strategy officer
CityVet names new chief strategy officer
Hannah Pet Hospital names new CEO
Hannah Pet Hospital names new CEO
CityVet Celina opens in Prosper, Texas
CityVet Celina opens in Prosper, Texas

Advertisement

Latest News

Integrative approach to treating Giardia lamblia infections

Innovative digital microscopy platform is launched

Enhanced pet health and wellness app now available

Advice on dog and cat seasonal allergies with air quality threats

View More Latest News
Advertisement