Activated systems - repeat px ordering

[krisi]

Hi,
I work in a community pharmacy and just wondered if and how people work in terms of ordering repeat pxs.
In our pharmacy we had a system in place on the computer where it would flag up when patients repeats were due once we had set it up originally. From this we could search and pull out a patients repeat (from a box that has been set out alphabetically), ring the patient to let them know their repeat was due and order their medication quite easily. The same applied when they rang us.

The flaw of our repeat system - our managers got a new computer system which can't function in the same way - typical. We have tried different strategies but as yet none are working effectively, and there are far too many activated repeat pxs in the hundreds! (we contact the patients for the repeats that are due daily)

We tried a paper based system where we had days 1-31 cards in a box and we rang patients whose repeats were placed under the relevant date. The problem, when we ordered a px for a patient and their new repeat came back from the surgery some staff werent putting the new repeats in the right place for the next time, therefore patients werent getting contacted the following month to order their repeats and complaints begin!
Plus the other problem, when a patient rang us we had no idea which date their repeats were filed under because we no longer had the computer system to flag up when they are due.

I just wondered if any other people use any kind of activated system whereby they ring the majority of their patients when their pxs are due??? and if so what system you use if it works effectively? any ideas would be welcome. we have tried quite a few things and nothings working! the only other alternative is scrapping the system altogether and getting the patients to contact us but its a service we have offered for years and im not too sure our customers would be too impressed.

[johnep]

Sounds like Compass. Not nearly so flexible as old system. Pharmacy Manager will send reminder texts, has compliance reports etc that should print out a list of due pts.
johnep

[LeftArm]

You could try a calender program like MS Outlook or Mozilla SunBird and add recurring events for each reminder patient.
You could also try google calander or similar (you may need to consider your Information Governance before setting up an online calender.)