Jerry Fahrni

While reading through a pharmacy listserv I came across a seemingly simple piece of software that fills an important gap in the pharmacy distribution process. RxVerify, by Pharmacy Ideas, is a bar-code verification system used during the medication restocking phase for code boxes, anesthesia trays, transport boxes, etc.

The concept is simple and goes something like this:

1) Place labels containing the drug name and associated bar-code on the pockets of your code boxes, anesthesia trays, transport boxes, etc.

2) Pull items that need to be placed in these trays/boxes from pharmacy stock.

3) Scan the bar-code on the pocket followed by the bar-code on the medication. If the bar-codes match you get a stamp of approval and proceed to enter the lot number and expiration information found on the medication for tracking. If the bar-codes don’t match the software gives you a rude warning in the form of a visual queue that says “No Match!” in big red letters. In addition to the “No Match!” warning, a pop-up window appears that prevents the user from continuing.

Pretty simple, but effective if used properly.

In addition to the safety features offered by RxVerify, the system offers various reports for tracking and record keeping purposes. The ability to track lot number and expiration dates is a big plus.  One of the reports that is of particular interest to me is the “Med Error Prevention Report”. This report identifies what I like to call “bad scans”. Basically it tracks potential errors caught by the system. Of course not all the bad scans would result in a drug error, but the information can be useful nonetheless.

You can watch a video overview of RxVerify here. The video contains information on more than one product, but the the section specific to RxVerify begins at around the 12 minutes mark and runs through about 18:45.

Simple, yet cool.

From the RxVerify website:

RxVerify© (Prevent pharmacy restocking errors with a proven and effective control measure: The medication barcode!)

RxVerify© is software which uses the medication barcode to ensure quality assurance for the restocking process. The medication barcode is a proven and effective control measure for preventing medication restocking errors. This software is commonly used by pharmacy technicians for accurately restocking the following medication storage location types:

Anesthesia/surgery Medication Trays
Code Cart Med Trays
Emergency Med Boxes
Med Transport Kits
Surgery Med Carts
Any medication storage kit/box

RxVerify© not only provides quality assurance for medication selection, but it also prevents medications which are expired or nearly expired from being used for restocking.

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