La gestion des stocks des médicaments au sein des pharmacies hospitalières : analyse des difficultés rencontrées au sein d'hôpitaux wallons

Abstract

Drug inventory management in hospital pharmacies plays a crucial role in the quality of care received by the patient. In an environment where therapies are increasingly expensive, drug stock-outs are reported and pressures are felt, rational inventory management is essential. The objective of our research is to identify the difficulties related to drug inventory management encountered by hospital pharmacists and to identify the needs of pharmacists to overcome these difficulties. Our research consists in interviewing 11 hospital pharmacists, selected among Walloon hospitals. The purpose of these interviews is to assess the current state of drug inventory management within the institution and to identify the difficulties encountered in this area. We also seek to target the needs of pharmacists to optimize this task. The main findings identify the management of drug stock-outs as the biggest challenge faced by pharmacists. Real-time stock-keeping also remains a challenge. The lack of staff on the wards and within the pharmacy itself is a difficulty in maintaining optimal stock levels. The professionals interviewed also mentioned the difficulty of managing the flow of returns of non-administered drugs, as well as controlling the expiration dates of drugs. We identify a need for more visibility, cooperation and obtaining data from outside the institution to overcome certain difficulties. We identify a necessity for the distribution of certain tasks related to inventory management. There is also a need for automation in the work of pharmacists. Better communication between the pharmacy and the floors would also seem to alleviate some of these difficulties. In the specific context of healthcare, different long-term or short-term solutions can be considered to optimize the critical task of inventory management in the drug supply chain.