Ignoring the importance of keeping drugs locked up and organized sets up your facility for product tampering, drug theft and, most importantly, critical medication errors. Follow these 6 easy steps for safer, more cost-effective and simpler medication storage practices that will keep your staff and patients from drug-induced harm.

1 Lock it up
I've worked in healthcare systems where a $12 padlock was fixed to the front of a refrigerator that housed medications. With just the turn of a key, it could have become the most expensive lock imaginable. Instead of security solutions bought at your local hardware store, consider high-tech systems that open in proximity to ID cards or require a numeric passcode to gain access.

It's important to remember, though, that employees can develop workarounds to defeat the systems — leaving doors to storage areas or cabinets propped open or left ajar so they won't relock, for example. To combat these problems, design storage systems to lock passively when staff members exit or log out. Some passive electronic locking devices automatically close and lock drug storage drawers. These systems track access to the drawers, and some offer audible alarms that sound when drawers aren't closed or blocked open, which further prevents workarounds.

2 Consider automation
Automated medication dispensing units are a more expensive option — $4,000 to $8,000 for cabinets; $25,000 to $60,000 for fully computerized devices — but are useful systems for managing inventory and keeping products secure. These cabinets control access with passwords or even biometrics, which identifies users by their fingerprints. Biometric technology improves clinical efficiencies since staff members don't have to remember and enter passwords each time they have to gain access to medications. Relying on unique fingerprints to identify employees also eliminates the sharing of access cards, passwords or keys. When a given employee gains biometric access, you know exactly who that person was.

These devices also electronically control inventory and expiration dates. You can instantly determine how much medication is on hand and know when you need to replenish the supplies. Also, the cabinets will notify you if a medication is out of date, which prevents access to and subsequent administration of an expired product.

3 Differentiate similar products
Start with simple solutions to distinguish look-alike and sound-alike drugs. Storing such drugs in ice cube and egg trays, for example, is an inexpensive option, and placing a product in a sandwich bag is enough to make users stop and give further thought to the drug they're selecting. You can also keep similar products in individual bins with easy-to-read labels or use auxiliary labels or colored bins to indicate a product is a potential look-alike. We use labels in our automatic dispensing cabinets to remind users of the look-alike potential upon removing a product. Employ TALLman lettering to differentiate similar-sounding drugs such as doBUTamine and doPAmine. If you can't make drugs look different using any of these methods, try storing them in separate locations altogether to prevent errors.

4 Keep it neat
Have you ever walked into a storage room with containers of medications "organized" in no real logical fashion? Does that describe your set-up? By keeping storage areas neat, you reduce the amount of time needed to look for a drug by knowing exactly where it's located. Many facilities keep too much inventory on hand to guard against running out of products. Keeping supplies organized helps prevent this.

Buy plastic bins that can be easily sized and labeled to fit your needs. Try storing products in a single row, as placing drugs behind each other leads to mistakes. Plan in advance how you'll label products. Laser-printed color labels are usually ideal. Inkjet labels may seem like the more cost-effective option, but these labels are more likely to smear, and must be replaced if they get wet.

To keep drug supplies at optimum levels, create visual clues that alert staff when medications are out of stock. A clean empty bin, for example, is a reminder to all that something is missing. Affixing colored tape to the inside of storage bins will be easily noticed by staff when bins are empty, alerting them that it's time to reorder the medications stored there. Neatness also gives you adequate space to prepare medications. The medication safety literature is filled with examples of grabbing the wrong vial when mixing products. In each of these examples, the right product was retrieved prior to making the admixture, but a disorganized work area led to the wrong drug being used.

5 Light the way
The print on drug vials is small, which is a significant issue for the aging nurse population, so keep your work areas and medication storage areas well lit. While the type of lighting you use isn't necessarily critical, the light you choose should throw off a white light to avoid color casts on medication labels. To further aid your staff in reading drug labels, consider creating your own labels in larger fonts and type sizes. And label drugs with both brand and generic names. This increases the chance of delivering the right drug, and gives your staff pause so they stop and check drugs' contraindications against patients' allergies, for example.

6 Never assume
I've often seen a medication placed in the wrong bin, and over time the bin became the "correct" location for that product. You assume you're removing the right drug when you reach into a container, and most of the time you are, but while you may read the correct drug name on the label, are you always noting its concentration and strength? Ensure that products are returned to the correct storage bins, but more importantly, fully read labels when removing drugs for use.

Consider putting objective checks in place to guarantee you've pulled the right medication such as scanning bar codes to confirm products. If you use automated dispensing cabinets, require staff to scan products' bar codes when they're loading and refilling the machine to ensure medications are stored correctly in the first place.