- The new ISSSTE digital pharmacy has reduced the waiting time for medication collection.
- Before it was two and a half hours, while now it is approximately 30 minutes.
- The modernization and digitization was carried out with a minimum and own budget of the hospital.
Technology can be applied in all areas and the clearest example can be seen with the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) and the installation of its first digital pharmacy. In this way, the delivery of medicines is more agile and, in addition, a better optimization of resources is achieved.
This innovation is in the Regional Hospital “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos” from Mexico City. It works by issuing shifts with tickets and the order of attention appears on the screens.
First benefits that have been achieved
For his part, the director of the hospital, Felix Octavio Martinez Alcala, added the greatest benefit that has been achieved. Since its installation, the waiting time for the delivery of medicines has been reduced. Before it was two and a half hours, now it is 30 minutes.
“We provide 22,000 consultations a month and more than 500 prescriptions a day. It was inhumane to have people wait so long under the sun and on their feet. This program was implemented three weeks ago and the response has been very good. We are already providing better attention to our beneficiaries, which is the basics, with greater comfort for them and we are reducing the times in which we give them the medicine”.
The administrative deputy director of Regional Hospital “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos” from ISSSTEJosé Manuel Olán Gil, stressed that the digital pharmacy It works through tickets that are given to the right. Each one has their turn and with this it has been possible to measure the attention time, which decreased by more than 100 percent.
He explained that it started with a pilot test. At first, like any process, the patients became disoriented and did not understand the change. When they saw the improvement in time and speed with which they received their medications, congratulations arrived.
Operation of the ISSSTE digital pharmacy
The head of Pharmacy of the Regional Hospital “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos”, Agles Cruz Peralta, explained that, in this program, medical personnel prescribe and deliver the prescription to the patient. It can be digital, electronic or analog. The beneficiary goes to the pharmacy, receives a turn through the ticket and waits for his medicines to be provided.
Each patient is attentive to the screens installed in the area, according to their turn, which will allow them to spend their waiting time as they see fit. If you prefer to sit down, drink water, connect to the hospital’s open Wi-Fi network, whatever you like, since your turn is respected and prevents other people from getting in line and causing inconvenience.
Once it is their turn, the screen flashes and emits audio so that each patient knows when to go to the window in an inclusive and equitable manner.
The modernization and digitalization was carried out with a minimum budget and typical of the hospital, the hospital infrastructure was occupied, such as screens, chairs, furniture. This medical unit has been in existence for 53 years and the pharmacy was built for the number of beneficiaries at that time, with eight windows, and a bottleneck was formed, which was ended with the improvement of the process.
Cruz Peralta added that this digital protocol began with the opening of a pharmacy in the emergency area that fills around 250 prescriptions a day for around 80 patients.
He recalled that the patient who arrives at the emergency room presents symptoms and feels bad; the least he wants is to train for hours. With this new system, the waiting time is between 8 and 15 minutes maximum, and there are days when it is three minutes.
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