Form Factor: Suppositories

ControlCheck has form factors that identify the type of form the medication is in when it enters a patient’s body. Some medication enters the body through the mouth; some through an IV tube hooked into a vein; some through a one-time injection into the arm. How medicine enters the body is the dosage form that it takes on. 

Controlled suppositories pose a risk to hospitals and many want to leverage ControlCheck to have full visibility into the interaction with these suppository meds.  A suppository (supp) is medicine that is contained in the form of small piece of a solid material that melts at body temperature, such as cocoa butter or glycerin.  A suppository is inserted into the rectum, vagina, or urethra and the medicine in absorbed into the bloodstream. 

In order to achieve success in auditing more controlled substances within ControlCheck, we recommend you review the checklist below to ensure mapping is correct and learn how form factors affect IRIS and change management best practices once your suppository form factors are implemented within your hospital.

Map a Suppository

To map a suppository and make it available for auditing and tracking, complete the following workflows:

• If a supply med is ignored, follow the instructions to un-ignore a medication.
• If a supply med is unmapped, follow the instructions to map a medication. 

Suppository Implementation Checklist

• Review suppository Release Notes to understand the full scope of an audit trail
• Review Medication Audit States educational material
• Confirm suppository documentation format with your hospital’s source systems
  • Documentation format within source systems (eMAR & ADC) needs to follow ControlCheck Data Requirement Guidelines
• Review Change Management Best Practices Material
  • Internal discussion with staff on which new meds to audit & how to get prepared with the new visibility

How the Suppository Form Factor Impacts IRIS

Nursing Analytics

• IRIS Dashboard - Included, no change
• Variance Trends - Included, no change
• Dispense Patterns - Included, no change; Will see a new equivalent drug for Belladonna-Opium
• Med Trends - Included, no change
• Action Times - Included, no change, calculate time between First/Last Touch and First Dispense/Last Admin
  • There shouldn’t be a scenario where there is an admin and a waste so we exclude the last admin/last waste
  • Please reach out to the ControlCheck Support team if you have more information on this scenario that would suggest we should handle it differently
• User Mobility - Included, no change
• Waste Networks - Included, no change
• Full Package Waste - Included, no change
• Shift Analysis - Included, no change

OR Analytics

• IRIS Dashboard - Included, no change
• Variance Trends - Included, no change
• Dispense Patterns - Included, no change; Will see a new equivalent drug for Belladonna-Opium
• Med Trends - Included, no change
• Action Times - Included, no change, calculate time between First/Last Touch and First Dispense/Last Admin
  • There shouldn’t be a scenario where there is an admin and a waste so we exclude the last admin/last waste
  • Please reach out to the ControlCheck Support if you have more information on this scenario that would suggest we should handle it differently
• User Mobility - Included, no change
• Waste Networks - Included, no change
• Full Package Waste - Included, no change
• Shift Analysis - Included, no change

Suppository Form FAQ-tors

Q1: Does my adapter need to be updated to correctly ingest this form factor?

A1: Generally, no. As long as the supply meds are documented under existing event types in your hospital's data that are already parsed by the system, updates to the adapter are not likely to be needed. For example, if the supply events have a dispense action of Remove or Standard Issue and return actions of Return to stock or Return to bin as other events do, then it should work as-is.

Q2: What should the preferred Unit of Measurement (UoM) be for this form factor?

A2: The UoM should match how suppositories are documented in your hospital. If they are administered as units, then unit should be the preferred UoM. If they are administered in mass (i.e., 60 mg) then mg should be the preferred UoM.

Q3: How are waste events handled for this form factor?

A3: If a provider dispenses a suppository, they are expected to:

• Administer the whole thing to a patient (admin)
• Return the unused package (return)
• Waste an opened but unwanted med (waste)

There have been cases where a Waste event was selected in error, and so a quantity of 0 was filed. The Waste event is counted if the event was not equal to 0. The event is ignored if it is equal to 0.