Our Pharmacy Manager is our main dispensing Pharmacist on 1st shift, so I let her know. Also, I try to identify key people to let them know. For the Zemuron issue, I spoke with our Dir. of OR, Dir. of Anesthesia and called and spoke to the CRNA on call when I first found out to get their input on what to do.
The thing I try to remember is, just because you tell them, doesn't mean they'll listen, and any common sense that was present flies out the door in a crisis. It still amazes me that no one checked a Pyxis report, that would have been my first thought, but you can't control what other people do.
We also have a Pyxis Coordinator, so once that shortage gets communicated to that person, its their responsibility to move things around in Pyxis so that the priority departments maintain stock of the item.
It's SO unreasonable to expect you to tell everyone about every shortage. I would put together a list of folks and when you have a shortage, look at the list and think who on that list would benefit from knowing about this shortage; and I'd continue putting the sheet up. At some point, RPh and techs are going to have to take some accountability for assisting in this process.
Another thing I do, even if I've told them in person or on the phone, is follow up with an e-mail. That way you've got it in writing that you've communicated, that has saved me so many times when someone claims to have been left out of the loop on an issue.
One other thing I do besides all that is run a house wide med summary report from Pyxis. I then post that print out in the medication bin or on the shelf where the drug is kept so the pharmacy staff has no excuse as to why a machine is empty. That process has seemed to help out greatly!
Name of Facility: Provena St. Joseph Medical Center
What I did was sent out pages to the Clinical pharmacist.
We have a white board that I wrote on and made a small note saying This item is Manufacture b/o since _______(date). Then I take a Neon Label and put these in the Pyxis pocket where the drug is out.....
