Purpose ¿ This paper aims to examine the role of e-commerce in hospital pharmacy in the procurement of pharmaceuticals and determine how this has improved the internal pharmaceutical supply chain. Whilst e-commerce is in its infancy in this area it is still considered to be an important facet of supply chain management. E-trading within NHS pharmacies is conducted via electronic data interchange (EDI) offering proven benefits and ensuring the efficient and effective transmission of data between remote parties.
Design/methodology/approach ¿ The data were collected via a case-study in an NHS trust pharmacy supported and by questionnaires distributed to NHS and community pharmacies in the north-west of England.
Findings ¿ The findings support the view that there are benefits to be gained from introducing EDI into a purchasing department as the next logical step towards a total e-commerce solution (internet-based) and instigating quality improvements. It also proposes that the implementation and use of e-commerce in hospital pharmacies can be aligned with progress made in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and questions why, if such benefits can be realised, the use of e-commerce systems are not more widespread.
Research limitations/implications ¿ The implications of this research is that it offers a ¿snap-shot¿ of progress made-to-date of e-commerce in NHS Pharmacy, which can provide guidance for mangers and healthcare professionals managing their e-commerce/quality improvement agenda. The research conducted was restricted to a specific regional area of the NHS and could be applied to a larger national sample group. Future research within this field should also consider the cost of not introducing e-commerce in pursuing quality improvement.
Originality/value ¿ This discussion offers an insight into how a pharmacy approached EDI, and this is further supported by recent research conducted into examining the pharmacy systems in operation in the north-west of England and accompanying EDI systems and an analysis of EDI uptake and use in a sample of pharmacies in the same region, the latter being supported by anecdotal evidence of pros and cons to using EDI and potential barriers to its introduction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/3436 |
| Date | 14 September 2009 |
| Creators | Breen, Liz, Crawford, H. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, not applicable paper |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02656710510604890 |
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