Drug Procurement and Institution Tracking System

Drug Procurement and Institution Tracking System

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Computerization is defined as the control of processes by computers and their peripherals. Today it would be difficult to think of any process, business, or action that could not have profited from the numerous benefits of the computer system. Controlling processes or devices with computers started long ago since the invention of the computer. In the 20th century, inventors tried to make processes easier with the use of computers. Secondly, computerization has been greatly applied or used in controlling process that requires frequent activities such as drug procurement, drug management, drug tracking, and drug distributions in hospital management information system in pharmacy departments of hospitals.

This project which is a drug procurement and distribution tracking system provides a computer-based information management system in a Pharmacy Department of the University of Nigerian Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu by designing a cost-effective, user-friendly application, incorporating key attributes of data integrity and system security suitable for use in the pharmacy department of the hospital using Microsoft Access software in developing the database and visual basic as the programming language. The overall aim of this project is to optimize time and material in the processing of data needed for the effective operation of a large pharmacy department of a hospital. By this approach, data integrity, data redundancy, and consistency will be ensured.

Drugs are chemical substances that are administered to patients for curative purposes and prophylaxis. It can also be known as medicine because it is an essential part of people’s care.

The ability of the computer to store and retrieve information at a very fast and efficient rate makes its application useful in management operations. Drug management involves drug procurement, drug distribution, drug tracking, and information management. Drug distribution is concerned with the distribution of drugs within the different medical units or departments in a hospital, while drug procurement is concerned with the purchasing activities of the drugs by the pharmacy department of the hospital. In the same vein, drug tracking is concerned with the continuous monitoring of the actual quantity of drugs held in the hospital pharmacy or any other drug warehouse /store. It also controls the stock level.

The pharmaceutical unit in a hospital is concerned with drug management activities. They carry out the responsibility of making appropriate selections and drugs used by formulating an annual, monthly, weekly, or daily list of drugs requirement and management reports. However, in some hospitals today, some pharmacists still use the manual system of operation which can lead to inappropriate drug management errors due to problems of handling voluminous files within a short period. This could make data to be easily inaccessible and also delivery of drugs can lead to misplacement of patients’ files.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Drug procurement, tracking, distribution, and information management in this regard are routine processes carried out in various hospitals across Nigeria. It is commonplace to observe that these routine processes are still performed manually or are minimally computerized even in our Teaching Hospitals. This manual approach to these routine operations has a lot of problems associated with it, ranging from poor handling of drug data of patients, lack of good storage information system for drugs and drug dispensary, delays, to the difficulty in retrieving information on drugs and patients’ records. Given all these problems, it becomes necessary to develop a computer-based drug information management system and distribution tracking system. This is what this research project is set to address by computerizing the routine processes in our hospitals and in particular that of the Pharmacy Department of UNTH Enugu.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This research project aims to design and implement a computerized drug information management system, drug procurement, and distribution tracking system. This includes:

(i). To order for drugs without the mistake of procuring more than required.

(ii). To take good stock of drugs.

(iii). To prevent dispensary of expired drugs.

(iv). To ensure the accurate keeping of records of drugs.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The benefits derivable from this work include the following:

It will provide reliable healthcare services.
It will guarantee hospital management and patients of genuine and safe drugs.
It will ensure an efficient and standard drug dispensary system.
It will provide a database for stock-taking of drugs procured and dispensed at any moment.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work will cover only the Pharmaceutical Department of the University of Nigerian Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu. It will present an up to date and comprehensive design of the following:

Planning and control system which includes inventory control and drug distribution. Drug procurement procedure in a hospital. The expiry status of each drug at any point in time.

The Database of all kinds, types, and names of some drugs that would be stored and operated on.

1.6 ASSUMPTION

It is assumed that all the information gathered with the respect to inventory control is correct as implemented by the University of a Nigerian teaching hospital (UNTH) Enugu.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Time constraint; There is limited time to go and meet the hospital pharmacist for proper information.

Due to the sensitive nature of organizational information, there was reluctance to release vital information which may jeopardize the security of the organization.

1.8 PROJECT REPORT ORGANIZATION

This research project covers almost all you need to know about drug procurement and distribution tracking systems. Chapter one is the introduction and it covers the statement of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, the scope of the study, assumption, limitations of the study, and definition of terms. Chapter two is the literature review; it gives the detailed meaning of every associated word in my topic. Chapter three is the design and methodology; this involves the operation of the existing system and the method used. Chapter four is the system analysis and implementation; which talked about the operation of the proposed system. Chapter five is the summary, recommendation, and conclusion.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Database; A collection of logically related data to meet the information need of the organization. DBMS; Database Management Software that enables the user to define, maintain Control of the database. Application Program; A computer program that interacts with the database.

MENU; This is a list of options presented on the screen with each option identified by shortcode followed by a longer description of its purposes.

Drug; It is referred to as a medicine or chemical substance that is administered to Patients for curative measures.

Pharmacy; A place in a hospital where medicine or chemical substances are kept, stored, and prepared.

Flowchart; A diagram that shows the connection between the different stages of the process of the system.

Primary Key; The candidate key that is selected to identify the individual within the relationship.

Foreign Key; An attribute or a set of attributes within one relation that matches the candidate key.

Relation; A relation is a named table with columns and rows.

Attribute; An attribute is a named column of a relation.

Domain; A set of allowable values for one or more tables.

Null; It represents a value for an attribute that is currently unknown or not applicable.

Database design; The process of creating a design that will support Emprise mission statement and mission-required database e system.

Software: These are program for a computer that allows certain specific task to be accomplished e.g. word process etc.

Hardware: Computer equipment used to perform input processing and system output activates.

Management information system: Collection of people, database, and devices produced to use in providing routine information to managers and decision-makers of the organization.