Robert Eastin, Pharm.D. and Director of Central Pharmacy and Shared Services for Scripps Health, discussed the time savings benefits of Kit Check in last week’s video interview. Pharmacy kit restocking time decreased from over 20 minutes per kit to just 6 minutes after implementing Kit Check. But increased efficiency was just one of the benefits the hospital experienced. The solution also eliminated kit stocking errors and that was a welcome relief when regulators visited the hospital.
In the video above, Dr. Eastin discusses how improved kit accuracy has helped the hospital ensure regulatory compliance. Since implementing Kit Check, Scripps Health has had “no problem” during its State Board of Pharmacy inspections when it comes to kit inventory.
Dr. Eastin recounted during an ASHP Summer Meetings presentation in 2016 that a routine audit of manually restocked pharmacy kits revealed a 17% error rate. An audit conducted after implementing Kit Check resulted in zero errors identified. “We all sleep a lot easier at night knowing that the items that are listed on the inventory sheet are actually in [the kits],” concluded Dr. Eastin.
Other Kit Check customers have experienced similar benefits. The Ohio State Board of Pharmacy approved the use of Kit Check to eliminate the pharmacist double-check requirement, allowing St. Rita’s Medical Center to cut pharmacist restocking time by 79.6% while ensuring higher accuracy. Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital has also experienced incident-free audits since implementing Kit Check and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston reported tracking 240,000 kit medications without a single error.