CHAPTER ONE 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY 

Computerization is defined as the control of processes by computers and its 

peripherals. Today it would be difficult to think of any process, business or action 

that could not have profited from the numerous benefits of the computer system. 

Controlling process or devices   with computer started long ago since the invention 

of computer. In the 20th century inventors tried to make processes easier with the 

use of computers. Secondly computerization has been greatly applied or used in 

controlling process that requires frequent action such as drug procurement, drug 

management, drug tracking and drug distributions in hospital management 

information system in pharmacy departments of hospitals. 

This project which is drug procurement and distribution tracking system provides a 

computer based information management system in a Pharmacy Department of the 

University of Nigerian Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu by designing a cost 

effective, user friendly application, incorporating key attributes of data integrity 

and system security suitable for use in the pharmacy department of the hospital 

using Microsoft Access software in developing the database and visual basic as the 

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programming language. The overall aim of this project is to optimize time and 

material in the processing of data needed for effective operation of large pharmacy 

department of a hospital. By this approach, data integrity, data redundancy, and 

consistency will be ensured. 

Drugs are the chemical substances that are administered to patients for curative 

purposes and prophylaxis. It can also be known as a medicine, because it is the 

essential part of peoples care. 

The ability of the computer to store and retrieve information at a very fast and 

efficient rate makes its application useful in management operations. Drug 

management involves drug procurement, drug distribution, drug tracking and its 

information management. Drug distribution is concerned with distribution of drugs 

within the different medical units or departments in a hospital, while drug 

procurement is concerned with the purchasing activities of the drugs by the 

pharmacy department of the hospital. In the same vein, drug tracking is concern 

with the continuous monitoring of the actual quantity of drugs held in the hospital 

pharmacy or any other drug warehouse /store. It also controls the stock level. 

Pharmaceutical unit in a hospital is concerned with drug management activities. 

They carry out the responsibility of making appropriate selection and drugs used 

by formulating an annual, monthly, weekly or daily list of drugs requirement and 

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management reports. However, in some hospitals today, some pharmacists still use 

the manual system of operation which can lead to inappropriate drug management 

errors due to problems of handling voluminous file within a short period of time. 

This could make data to be easily inaccessible and also delivery of drugs can lead 

to misplacement of patients’ files. 

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 

Drug procurement, tracking, distribution and information management in this 

regard are routine processes carried out in various hospitals across Nigeria. It is a 

common place to observe that these routine processes are still preformed manually 

or are minimally computerized even in our Teaching Hospitals. This manual 

approach to these routine operations has a lot of problems associated with it, 

ranging from poor handling of drug data of patients, lack of good storage 

information system for drugs and drug dispensary, delays, to the difficulty in 

retrieving information on drugs and patients’ records.  In view of all these 

problems, it becomes necessary to develop a computer based drug information 

management system and distribution tracking system. This is what this research 

project is set to address by computerizing the routine processes in our hospitals and 

in particular that of Pharmacy Department of UNTH Enugu.  

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1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 

The aim of this research project is to design and implement a computerized drug 

information management system, drug procurement and distribution tracking 

system. This includes: 

(i). To order for drugs without mistake of procuring more than required. 

(ii). To take good stock of drugs. 

(iii). To prevent dispensary of expired drugs 

(iv). To ensure accurate keeping of records of drugs 

1.4    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 

The benefits derivable from this work include the following: 

(i) It will provide reliable healthcare services. 

(ii)  It will guarantee hospital management and patients of genuine and safe 

drugs. 

(iii) It will ensure an efficient and standard drug dispensary system. 

(iv) It will provide a data base for stock taking of drugs procured and 

dispensed any moment. 

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1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

This research work will cover only the Pharmaceutical Department of the 

University of Nigerian Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu. It will present an up to 

date and comprehensive design of the following:   

(i)   Planning and control system which includes inventory control and drug       

distribution                                                                                 

(ii)      Drug procurement procedure in a hospital. 

(iii) The expiry status of each drugs at any point in time  

(iv) The Database of all kinds, types and names of some drugs that would be 

store and operate on.  

1.6 ASSUMPTION 

It is assumed that all the information gathered with the respect to inventory control 

is correct as implemented by the university of Nigerian teaching hospital (UNTH) 

Enugu.    

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1.7   LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY  

1.  Time constraint; There is limited time go and meet the hospital pharmacist for 

proper information. 

2. Due to the sensitive nature of organizational information, there was reluctance to 

release vital information which may jeopardize the security of the organization. 

1.8 PROJECT REPORT ORGANIZATION 

This research project covers almost all you need to know about drug procurement 

and distribution tracking system. Chapter one is the introduction and it covers the 

statement of problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of 

the study, assumption, limitations of the study and definition of terms. Chapter two 

is the literature review; it gives the detailed meaning of every associated word in 

my topic. Chapter three is the design and methodology; this involves the operation 

of the existing system and the method used. Chapter four is the system analysis and 

implementation; which talked about the operation of the proposed system. Chapter 

five is the summary, recommendation and conclusion.    

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1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS 

Database; A collection of logically related data to meet the information need of 

organization.                                                                                     

DBMS; Database   Management Software that enable the user to define, maintain 

Control the database.                                                                                    

Application Program; A computer program that interacts with the database. 

MENU; This is a list of options presented on the screen with each option identified 

by short code followed by longer description of its purposes. 

Drug; It is referred to as a medicine   or chemical substances that are administered 

to Patients   for curative measures.  

Pharmacy; A placed in a hospital where medicine or chemical substances are 

kept, stored and prepared. 

Flowchart; A diagram that shows connection between the different stages of 

process of the system. 

Primary Key; The candidate key that is selected to identify the individual within 

the relation  

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Foreign Key; An attribute or a set of attributes within one relation that matches 

the candidate key 

Relation; A relation is a named table with columns and rows 

Attribute; An attributes is a named column of a relation                                                                                

Domain; A set of allowable values for one or more table 

Null; it represents a value for an attribute that is currently unknown or not 

applicable 

Database design; The process of creating a design that will support emprise 

mission statement and mission required database e system. 

Software: These are program for computer which allows certain specific task to be 

accomplished e.g. word process etc. 

Hardware: Computer equipment used to perform input processing and system 

output activates. 

Management information system: collection of people, database, and devices 

produced to use in providing routine information to manager and decision makers 

of the organization.     

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