An exploratory study of Finnish Medicines Verification Systems (FiMVS) alerting processes technical performance
Katajamäki, Jouko (2021)
Katajamäki, Jouko
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021053112906
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021053112906
Tiivistelmä
Medical safety through medicine falsifications entering the legal supply chain of medicines have become a serious safety issue in the European Union (EU). This study is concerned with the Finnish Medicines Verification Systems (FiMVS) alerting process which purpose is to tracks down falsified medicines. The system sets an alert if something is wrong with the verification (system related defects or potential medicine falsification). The purpose of the study is to offer more in-depth knowledge about the alerting system and study aims to give an overview of the implementation of the FiMVS. The role of the pharmacists doing the verifications is also put under the microscope. Mixed method was used as the methodology, mixing quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data was an alerting data straight from the system, which was the main focus of the study. This data was supported with qualitative interviews of the pharmacists.
The results shows that the amount of the monthly system alerts were lowered more than 80% during the data collection period. Other findings were that most of the alerts were data related and caused by pharmaceutical companies’ improper feeding of data into the system. Pharmacists as users emphasized that thorough instructions are needed in reacting to the system alerts. Pharmacists also noted that medical safety can be improved with decreased amount of dispensing errors due to verification but the verification slows their work a bit.
The results lead to the conclusions that the overall performance of the systems alerting process improved during the data collection period and actions held to lower the amount of alerts had worked. Potential suggestions for the future includes actions streamlining the work of the pharmacists in an alert situation.
The results shows that the amount of the monthly system alerts were lowered more than 80% during the data collection period. Other findings were that most of the alerts were data related and caused by pharmaceutical companies’ improper feeding of data into the system. Pharmacists as users emphasized that thorough instructions are needed in reacting to the system alerts. Pharmacists also noted that medical safety can be improved with decreased amount of dispensing errors due to verification but the verification slows their work a bit.
The results lead to the conclusions that the overall performance of the systems alerting process improved during the data collection period and actions held to lower the amount of alerts had worked. Potential suggestions for the future includes actions streamlining the work of the pharmacists in an alert situation.