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Using Color-Coded Storage Bins to Improve Patient Safety

Like most of you, during my years as a director in hospital pharmacies I spent a significant amount of time working on anything I could do to improve patient safety.  A lot of articles have been written over the years discussing any number of ideas to minimize the chance of medication errors.  Some of these ideas are easy and inexpensive to implement, while others are much more extensive in time and cost.

 

One of the simplest, most cost effective and effective projects I worked on was using color-coded plastic storage bins for separating inventory, sound-alike look-alike medications, IV solutions and anything else I could use them for to better organize the pharmacy.  The pharmacy staff would often help with ideas as to how to utilize the color-coded bins and would appreciate the extra level of safety they provided.

 

Storage is always a challenge in pharmacies and it is one of HCL’s specialties. I was able to take advantage of the variety of size, shape and color of plastic bins to best organize the pharmacy and add one more level of patient safety.