Improving patient care at the University of Virginia Health System: A systems approach to examining inpatient medication distribution

Medication replacements are reorders resulting from errors in the medication distribution process due to the perceived or actual unavailability of the right medication at the required place and time. Avoidable medication replacements hinder and detract from the quality of a medical systempsilas patient care, lead to inflated costs and waste of financial resources, decrease efficiency and productivity of nurses and pharmacists, and have a negative impact on employee morale - and they are not isolated or rare occurrences. A systems analysis approach is being used to examine various methods of improving the medication distribution process of the University of Virginia Health System with the goal of reducing the number of avoidable medication replacements.