How are medications distributed to patients on ward.

[pharmatobe]

I have had some difficulting finding out exactly how an in patients medications end up on the ward.
Are medications delivered once daily by pharmacists to ward? Then are all other requests for the day expected to be collected from the pharmacy?

Do individual hospitals have different procedures or policies in place?
How are requests for inpatients medications recieved ?

I would appreciate any help.

[JayEm]

In the hospitals I've worked in, the patient's have a supply of drugs in their own locker either brought from home or supplied from the hospital pharmacy. Then each day, the pharmacist or tech goes around the wards checking whether each patient has enough. The wards also usually have a central store of common drugs which is used when doctors make any additions to a patient's kardex. If a drug isn't on the ward, the pharmacist can order it from the dispensary when they do their rounds.

[Nik]

Similar system at the hospital I work at - some wards have techs on which provide a meds management service ie assessing and using POD's where appropriate. In-patient requisitions for non ward stock items get delivered on the porter's rounds at dedicated times during the day.

[crit care]

where i work the supply works 2 ways..wards have stock drugs which they keep in their drug cupboards and these are sent to the wards via our stores..each ward has a certain day of the week which they are topped up on. Usually sent up in big metal tins...

For patient supplies (ie drugs which are not stocked on the ward) pharmacists/techs order these via pharmacy, they get labelled up and dispensed in pharmacy then get sent back to the ward via the tube system (if they are small enough) or we have a porter service which will deliver the drugs twice a day!

if wards run out of stock drugs, inbetween them getting topped up they can request for further supplies either by the ward pharmacist or sending a requisition book down to stores.

outside of normal working hours they wards have to walk down to pharmacy to collect their drugs if they are too big to tube

[pharmatobe]

Thank you for your quick responses, they have been helpful.: