Effect of Closed Loop Medication Administration on Drug Returns in Inpatient Facilities

Medication management in inpatient facilities is a crucial issue for patient safety. In inpatient conventional drug management, a common problem relates to drugs prescribed and delivered to patients being returned to the pharmacy without reason for the return. When reasons are given, they are not often regularly and correctly recorded. Closed Loop Medication Administration (CLMA) protects patient safety by managing all processes, including intake of the drug to the hospital's stock, administering the drug to the patient, and disposal of unused drugs using technology. CLMA is known to contribute positively to patient safety. However, there is no study on the effect of CLMA on the return of non-administered drugs. This study aims to analyze the effect of CLMA on drug return rates and investigate the data quality of reasons for drug returns. The research was carried out in three inpatient clinics of a Turkish state hospital (Bolu İzzet Baysal Public Hospital) where the CLMA was implemented in May of 2017. The data set obtained from the hospital information system (HIS) is anonymized. The study showed a significant increase in drug return rates after CLMA, and the data quality of drug return reasons is also significantly improved. These results show that CLMA contributes positively to drug return rates and the data quality of drug return reason records.