What Are the Benefits of Pharmacy Barcode Scanners?

Summary: This article emphasizes the transformative impact of barcode scanner technology in long-term care (LTC) pharmacies.

Table of Contents

4 Key Benefits of Using Pharmacy Barcode Scanner Technology 
- Increased Operational Efficiency
- Improved Dispensing Accuracy 
- Reduced Patient Safety Concerns
- Enhanced Pharmacy Staff Visibility

Barcode scanner technology is transforming the way long-term care (LTC) pharmacies operate for the better, introducing efficiencies, improving accuracy, and minimizing errors. The ability to scan barcodes from anywhere in the pharmacy is changing the game, enabling pharmacy staff to work more freely and maximize their mobility on the job.

Learn all about pharmacy barcode scanners and why using a solution like FrameworkFlow™ can benefit your LTC pharmacy.

4 Key Benefits of Using Pharmacy Barcode Scanner Technology

Efficiency, accuracy, safety, and visibility are all essential components of a successful LTC pharmacy operation. The benefits of pharmacy barcode scanner technology include:

Increased Operational Efficiency

By using a pharmacy barcode scanner, your staff can get more done, faster—and from anywhere in the pharmacy. Because they’re handheld, pharmacy barcode scanners enhance user mobility and connectivity, enabling staff to perform workflow tasks more efficiently without being tethered to their workstations.

As a result, pharmacies can enjoy faster physical inventory management, fewer bottlenecks during packaging, and better organization during the toting stage. Reducing the steps required to complete dispensing, packaging, labeling, toting, and inventory management processes provides 360-degree efficiency, saving time, money, and resources for your business.

Improved Dispensing Accuracy

Accuracy is essential in the pharmacy industry, and barcode scanning technology makes it easier to achieve. Pharmacy barcode scanners offer built-in quality checks, which leads to greater accuracy in dispensing workflows and gives staff peace of mind. This leads to fewer avoidable errors when performing inventory, allowing pharmacy staff to track all medications down to the zone and bin level—right where the product is stored. In addition to improving dispensing accuracy, each handheld barcode scanner wirelessly captures the pharmacist or technician ID with time stamps, improving staff accountability and making it easy for pharmacists to identify parties who may require additional training.

Reduced Patient Safety Concerns

With greater accuracy comes fewer patient safety concerns. In a domino effect, scanned drug verification improves accuracy, which ultimately reduces medication dispensing errors and minimizes patient safety concerns. By implementing pharmacy barcode scanners, staffers can dramatically reduce their risk of accidentally dispensing the wrong drug, strength, or dosage to patients. In fact, past research shows that pharmacy barcode scanning solutions have proven to reduce medication dispensing errors by up to 85 percent.

Enhanced Pharmacy Staff Visibility

Track everything from inventory to dispensing and facility toting in real-time. Perpetual inventory management is another benefit of pharmacy barcode scanners. With the ability to track medications in real time, staff members can easily see what medications they have on hand and find exactly what they need at the right time. Barcode scanning also provides better visibility into the facility’s tote-filling process. As a result, pharmacy staff can add patient orders to facility totes much more efficiently, ensuring patients’ orders make it out for delivery on time and providing better service for facility partners.

Using FrameworkFlow to Work from Anywhere in the Pharmacy 

Your staff needs to be able to move freely and work from anywhere in the pharmacy, and the FrameworkFlow mobile barcoding solution can help. FrameworkFlow allows staff members to connect to the power of FrameworkLTC throughout the pharmacy with any supported iOS or Android mobile device. Finally, LTC pharmacies have the freedom to design layouts that permit staff members to perform their workflow tasks on the move—all while improving accuracy and efficiency.

It’s a win-win—and the pharmacies we partner with agree! “FrameworkFlow helps our people get their jobs done quicker,” explained Brad Fanguy, Head Pharmacist of Institutional Pharmacies of Louisiana (IPL). “We don’t have a need for three or four more computer terminals. And if there’s an error in the fulfillment, the machine makes an error sound."

Connectivity and mobility can help you optimize the prescription filling process and achieve your goal of scaling your LTC pharmacy over time. FrameworkFlow and the full integrated solution set are the missing pieces of the puzzle. 

Want to learn more about mobile barcode scanning? Schedule your demo to discover how FrameworkFlow can enhance your staff’s connectivity and transform your pharmacy’s operational efficiency.