Conversion to an electronic missing medication request system at an academic medical center

Abstract

Missing medications can negatively contribute to the financial and operational workflows of pharmacy departments and add medication safety challenges. The missing medication request (MMR) system at the study institution converted to entirely electronic in June 2018 from a hybrid electronic system. This study evaluated 4-week periods pre- and post-conversion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of conversion to an electronic MMR system on the quantity of requests received at an academic medical center. The average daily number of MMR’s decreased from the pre-conversion group to the post-conversion group (1.77 (±0.16) vs 1.48 (±0.17), p < 0.001). During post-conversion, the median triage time was 8 min [3 min–19 min], pharmacists triaged 62.4% of requests, and 29.6% of requests were declined. Conversion to an electronic MMR system represents one solution to decreasing missing medications. Future studies are needed to evaluate the financial, operational, and medication safety impact of conversion.