What if a life-saving drug is just a few steps away – but no one can get to it in time?
Hospitals are busy where every second counts. Medicines need to be stored securely and accessed quickly to keep patients safe and meet important rules. With evolving technology and increasing accountability, hospitals must use smarter storage solutions to protect medicines and make staff’s jobs easier.
Medicine Access
Medicines are some of the most important and tightly controlled items in healthcare. From life-saving drugs to essential IV fluids, handling them incorrectly or letting the wrong people access them can cause serious harm – to patients, hospital reputations and finances.
How long could a patient wait if a nurse can’t find the key to the cabinet? What if that delay costs a life that could have been saved?
Old-fashioned systems, like cabinets locked with keys, come with big risks. Keys get lost, copied or stuck with the wrong person – causing delays when time is precious. In emergencies hospital need a faster safer solution.
Smarter Security Sytems: A Better Way to Manage Medicines
Exclusive to Stirling, Barrd is the leading developer of intelligent electronical security systems for storage solutions specialising in clinical sectors. The range utilises a high level of specification to the physical design of storage cabinets to ensure all standards are met. But the main area where the products lead the market is in the software to ensure secure access through digital controls.
Each cabinet that has Intelligent Swipe Access, ‘talks’ to the cloud management portal which holds access credentials and audit data:
Easy User Access Control:
- Managers can easily add or remove staff access from anywhere.
- Access can be customised – for example, nurses may access IV fluids, but only pharmacists can access certain medicines.
Full Tracking and Records:
- Every time the cabinet is opened, it’s logged – date, time, and who accessed it.
- No data limits – records go back as far as needed.
- Information is available in the cloud and can be exported for audits.
Preventing Misuse:
- Real-time tracking discourages misuse because staff know every action is recorded.
- A clear audit trail creates accountability, helping to keep medicines safe.
Real-Life Problems with Old Systems:
Here are two examples of traditional key systems that can cause serious issues:
Situation 1: A staff member secretly keeps a copy of a key and returns months later, accessing restricted drugs.
Situation 2: A nurse urgently needs medicine, but the key is with a colleague. The delay in finding the ley wastes precious time. If this happens multiple times across different departments and hospitals, it could add up to thousands of lost hours.
Barrd’s 6G Intelligent Security System fixes these problems. It works with most hospital swipe cards and runs on reliable Mifare Wi-Fi technology. Hospitals benefit from:
- Remote user management
- Instant updates to locks and access
- Emergency manual override keys
- Full-service support and backup
The Future of Medicine Storage
Healthcare regulations are changing, and technology is advancing fast. Hospitals need to stay ahead with smart storage systems that offer more than basic locks.
With Baard’s 6G system, hospitals can improve patient care, run more smoothly, and stay compliant with new regulations. Medicine storage isn’t just about keeping cabinets locked, it’s about creating a safe, accountable and responsive system for everyone who depends on it.
