Overview
Favored partner of pharmacists for nearly 30 years, Pharmagest delivers turnkey solutions, including integrated management software, hardware, installation and maintenance services to healthcare professionals. Over the past 10 years, Pharmagest has expanded its offer by providing secured internet access, dynamic communication tools and mobile applications to pharmacists. With the company’s solutions installed in over 9,500 pharmacies in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, Pharmagest is a market leader.
"We seek to understand and anticipate changes in the pharmacist’s job in order to offer solutions that meet new challenges of the profession," stated Jérôme Lapray, Marketing Manager at Pharmagest. He added, "We invest heavily in research and development and keep a close eye on technology in order to offer state-of-the-art products and solutions.”
The Challenge
Pharmagest developed OPTISTOCK, a versatile application for stock tracking and management, receiving orders, price verification, and inventory control. To run the application, the company required a PDA that could provide high performance in an ergonomic form factor. It had to be easy to handle, have a bright, visible screen to display the application, and be robust enough to withstand frequent handling and repeated falls. From a technical point of view, the product needed to read 2D codes, which are now required in all French pharmacies, and have a solid Wi-Fi radio for real-time wireless communication everywhere in the pharmacy.
The Solution
Pharmagest’s technical team examined several products and the company selected the Lynx™ PDA from Datalogic to complete the solution. Small, lightweight and ergonomic, the Lynx PDA is used several times a day for order receiving. When a shipment arrives, the pharmacist selects the application related to the order with the Lynx PDA, acknowledges receipt of it and verifies that all the products ordered have actually been delivered. The data is entered and updated in real-time in Pharmagest’s integrated management software.
The Lynx PDA tracks and monitors stock status in the front and back office of the pharmacy in real-time. If a difference is detected, the operator can use the PDA to correct the quantity directly in the system and then identify the origin of the difference quickly in order to implement the necessary corrective actions to prevent the error from occurring again. The PDA also verifies that the quantities of the physical inventory and virtual stock match during the annual inventory control.
The Lynx PDA performs price checks at the point of sale as well. The number of pharmacies equipped with electronic tags that update prices automatically is limited, so most pharmacists have to check the prices displayed on a regular basis. Using the PDA, the pharmacist scans and verifies that the price on the label corresponds to what is indicated in the software. In the case of a price discrepancy, the operator can edit the label directly using the Lynx PDA, which then sends the correct label to the printer to be reprinted.
The Results
Pharmacists appreciate many aspects of the Lynx PDA, including its efficiency, ergonomics and user comfort. The scan engine instantly reads both 1D and 2D codes, critically important to their business. As part of the complete solution provided by Pharmagest, the Lynx PDA allows pharmacists to increase productivity in their daily tasks. They observed a significant reduction in data entry errors and stock discrepancies, as well as improved replenishment management. The real-time inventory management system helps pharmacists resolve their overstock problems and reduce overall storage costs. Most importantly, productivity gains obtained by the solution with the Lynx PDA gave pharmacists more time to dedicate to higher added value activities, such as customer service and merchandising.
Over 600 Lynx PDA’s have been deployed in pharmacies using the Pharmagest solution, and the number continues to grow as more pharmacists see the benefits it provides.
Customer: Pharmagest
Industry/Sub-industry: Healthcare/Pharmacies
Application: Inventory Management/Price Checks
Country: France
Datalogic Products: Lynx PDA
