Count ampoules in a tray from a photo

Counting glass ampoules in trays for clinical stock checks

Hospital stores, operating rooms and crash carts hold ampoules that are counted at stock rotation, at goods-in and during cart checks. For controlled drugs, the witnessed manual count and register entry remain the procedure, and a photo count can only support them. Ampoules usually sit in molded trays or card inserts, so shoot from directly above with the whole tray in frame.

Clear glass is the challenge: ampoules nearly vanish on a white tray and pick up bright reflections from ceiling lights. A dark background and soft, angled light make the outline and the colored neck rings stand out. Ampoules lying flat in rows can touch end to end, so check that each holds one dot and not two. Empty slots in a tray are easy to see by eye, so compare them with the count. Different products in similar glass need one example each, and lookalike ampoules should never share a tray.

Add each tray or drawer as a labeled row in the tally. Vials in racks are handled on the vial counter, syringes for the same cart on the syringe page, and tablets on the pill counter.