Um unitized medicine is an fractionated medicine?
For sure!
Unitarize (unit dose re-packaging en English) is the process of preparing medications in ready-made form such as blisters and ampoules, so that they will be administered to patients. This process is usually carried out in the Hospital Pharmacy, in the Medicine Storage Sector or in the Center for Unitarization. In many hospitals, this process is the responsibility and control of the hospital pharmacy.
A unitarization involves two main processes: packaging, label printing or unit packaging and can be done manually or with unitizing machines.
Other tasks of the unitarization process include:
1) Remove the medicines from stock;
2) Create a Unitarization Production Order with the corresponding information: authorization, barcode, quantity of medicines, validity, etc.;
3) Obtain the materials to unitize;
4) Cut the blisters;
5) Separate the medicines from their secondary packaging or boxes;
6) Print the labels in case of unitarization manual;
7) Pack and label (unitarize);
8) Form groups suitable for subsequent handling within the stock and place labels.
9) Keep the storage location in the correct place.
This process is normally carried out immediately upon receipt of the drugs at the hospital and before entering the Closed Stock (stock 1). In unitarization processes with automatic machines, this is standard procedure.
In cases of manual unitization It is not always possible to do this and sometimes, medicines are stored in stock and later sent to unitarization.
Today, there are machines that cut the blisters automatically, which are used by hospitals with more than 150 beds. And also semi-automatic unit-dose machines and devices to carry out the entire process in an automated manner, without the constant presence of the operator in all cycles.
So why Unitarize?
Mainly to centralize the control of medicines in the Hospital Pharmacy, to differentiate packaging, add barcodes and maintain the patient safety. This centralization of control allows a reduction of up to 57% in Adverse events, according to two studies carried out in Germany and the USA.
Thus, as the reduction in the time spent by nurses for unitarize on different floors and reducing waste.
But unitarization It is not yet widespread in all countries, as in Europe, where in several countries medicines are still sent to the wards in boxes that are unitarized at the time of use. In the US, many medications are unitized or packaged without blisters, received in large bottles, to be stored in electronic cabinets in the wards or sectors.
Unitarize to differentiate
The ampoules and blisters received directly from laboratories do not have the necessary differentiation to be used within the hospital.
Each hospital and each pharmacy professional has its own rules on how to “customize” the packaging presentation. In general, incidents from the recent past influence the criteria for avoiding new incidents. This creates a wide variety of differentiation criteria in each hospital that the pharmaceutical industry cannot solve.
The placement of bar codes with hospital identifications is important, and in some cases a serial code is added, where each package has a different code or identification and can be tracked individually, from the beginning to the end of use and associated with a specific patient, ensuring greater control throughout the entire process. unitarization.
Currently, the drug fractionation ou unitarization, can be done through unitizing machines and this hospital automation contributes to the transformation in the hospital.
A unitarization favors agility, speed and greater reliability in the internal processes of the hospital pharmacy, valuing patient safety.
