From May 19 to 23, the “Care Without Waste” campaign week took place — an important moment to reflect on the impact of waste in healthcare and the steps we can take to reduce it.
One often overlooked source of plastic waste is the medication pouch (also known as a Baxter bag), used to package medication per administration time. Especially with single-dose or combi-dose formats, large amounts of plastic are generated.
These formats are usually chosen with patient safety in mind. If a prescription changes, nurses know exactly which pouch or tablet to discontinue. But this also results in: more pouches, more plastic.
Is it necessary to choose between safety and sustainability?
Fortunately not. Hospitals using multidose packaging in combination with MedEye show that it can be done differently. Thanks to a smart integration between the Electronic Prescribing System (EPS) and the packaging robot, MedEye knows exactly what each pouch contains. This data is linked to a barcode that is scanned at the patient’s bedside.
If the prescription changes, the pouch is opened and MedEye’s medication scanner indicates precisely which tablet needs to be removed.
The result:
Up to 80% less plastic *
Even better medication safety
A 50% more efficient workflow for nurses *
Dutch hospitals such as Nij Smellinghe and Antonius Ziekenhuis Sneek are already proving that it works.
Small change, big impact
Working more sustainably in healthcare doesn’t always require a major shift. Sometimes, it starts with something small — one less pouch, one more scan. And before you know it, you’re saving hundreds of thousands of plastic pouches per year.
* Based on research by Nij Smellinghe Hospital