At our September edition of HTN Now, we were joined by Dan Hinchley, Business Development Manager and Pharmacy Technician for CareFlow Medicines Management (CMM).
Dan joined us to discuss how drug records can be controlled with CMM’s Careflow Controlled Drug Manager, a single digital solution offering organisational efficiencies, compliance with UK-controlled drug regulations, and comprehensive reporting tools.
Dan began by explaining the purpose of the Controlled Drug Manager: “to replace controlled drug records and requisitions of a digital system that integrates with pharmacy stock control products, as well as EPMA systems.”
The existing problem, he explained, is that compliance with the Misuse of Drugs Act has been a manual process for years in most organisations, and hours are spent making records in controlled drug registers. In addition, misreading handwriting can cause issues such as missed medication, duplication or medication given in error, and maths mistakes can corrupt running balances. The manual time spent on these tasks takes away from patient care.
“If we can pre-populate that much of that as possible and digitise the process, then we should be able to save time and deliver more care as a result,” Dan said.
CD Manager: the vision
“The Controlled Drug Manager was designed by pharmacists who work in the NHS as well as pharmacy technicians to be a comprehensive CD platform. It includes the management of the patient’s own drugs and hospital medicines as well. We designed it to be as streamlined as possible, and to integrate with EPMA and pharmacy products you have in the hospital already.
“The purpose is really to deal with accuracy, and to ensure that you’ve got the necessary legal governments without all of the mundane aspects.”
Dan shared some of the benefits with regards to governance and compliance. He began by listing some of the product’s capabilities including real-time alerting; reporting; audit tracking; and enforcement of precise and consistent procedures.
These capabilities lead to outcomes such as reduced potential for fraudulent behaviour; improved investigative processes; increased visibility; and improved safety.
“From the perspective of a controlled drugs accountable officer, this gives you access to all the data in one place,” Dan explained. “So when you have inspections or you have to prove your compliance and governance, you’re able to do that from one place rather than having to go to lots of different physical locations and go through lots of registers.”
There are operational efficiencies too. “It improves record accuracy and accountability, which leads to efficiencies in the organisation,” Dan noted. “We’ve added built-in workflows for low stock warnings and automated request management as standard. You can quickly identify your needs and pharmacies are able to see all the drugs in transit within their organisation, and manage their workload accordingly. This improves governance as a result, and it makes processes simpler to manage on a day-to-day basis.”
Dan explained how CMM’s philosophy is that “careflow medicines management is all around closed loop principles, and we’ve extended that into our electronic CD register. We follow the process of the CD journey through the hospital, through its delivery in the store area, through the dispensary, and then onward through the wards and organisation, integrating with stock management products and EPMA systems as it goes. This improves register accuracy and prevents users from forgetting to register transactions.”
Key features
CD Manager is designed for use in all areas where controlled drugs are stored or used, across the hospital.
Expanding on this, Dan said: “This includes complex processes related to the patient’s own drugs – you can take CDs into possession when a patient arrives in the ward and add them to their own CD register, which then moves around the organisation with the patient. You can also take elicit substances into possession and record it.
“Where a patient’s own drugs aren’t transferred with the patient, the system will alert the end users to that fact and also set CD incidents in the system if they’re not transferred within an appropriate time limit.”
He noted that CD Manager comes with “automated alerting that’s very configurable for each register location with an in-built set of tools to manage investigations and outcomes. All of the data in the system is reportable and there are a number of in-built reports as standard.”
Technical overview and exploring the user interface
“We specifically designed the system to work on windows-based tablets and PC,” Dan explained, “and it uses tiles to support touchscreen workflows as well. It integrates with the CMM EPMA and pharmacy products as standard, and we also support deployment.”
CD Manager has multiple hosting options and can work on premises, via a hybrid-cloud model or through full cloud , and has offline capability in case of system outages, and additionally it supports Citrix environments.
At this point, Dan provided an example of how the CD Manager’s user interface works onscreen, commenting that CMM have worked to make it as “simple and learnable as possible”.
Implementing, training and support
“We have a standard set of services, for pharmacy-only deployment as well as organisation-wide deployment, which we tailor to people’s needs,” Dan said. “We recommend that customers initially deploy in pharmacy and then follow by a roll-out across the ward in the second phase.
“Most of these deployments could be completed in less than 12 months, and we offer services to assist with configuration of the solution to match your workflows and medicines policy more widely.”
Dan highlighted that go-live support is also offered for all systems, and the amount of support required can be tailored.
“Once we hand the system over, you’ve got complete control and you’ll be able to configure any drug in whatever way you need in order to make it work.”
CD Manager in action
Dan moved on to a more comprehensive demonstration to provide a product overview.
To arrange a demonstration or to find out more, contact CMM here.
