Medication Safety
Thinking about a better Automated Dispensing Unit (ADU)
Automated Dispensing Units (ADUs), also referred to as Automated Dispensing Cabinets (ADCs), are nothing new to hospital pharmacy. Over 80% of hospital pharmacies use ADUs. The most common is a product from Cardinal called Pyxis MedStation. Others include Omnicell SinglePointe, McKessen AutoDose-Rx and medDISPENSE (part of Emerson Electric Co.). Currently Pyxis is the clear front runner, […]
Posted in Automation, Medication Safety | Tagged ADU, AutoDose-Rx, AutoPack, AutoPharm, InSite, medDISPENSE, Omnicell, Pyxis | Permalink | 11 Responses
Local anesthetic allergies.
This has nothing to do with pharmacy technology, but I thought it would be worth posting. Questions about cross reactivity of one local anesthetic to another don’t come along often, but when they do it’s never easy to formulate a quick answer. Lucky for me I’m an electronic pack-rat and saved a small drug information […]
Posted in Medication Safety, Uncategorized | Tagged Allergies, Local anesthetics | Permalink | 1 Response
Tablet recognition for safe dispensing…why not?
I recently spied a Twitter post regarding a “pill geometry” database. The idea of a database that houses the geometry of prescription tablets piqued my interest and sent my brain into overdrive. I don’t think that was the intention of the Twitter post, but it jump started by brain nonetheless.
Posted in Automation, Medication Safety | Tagged Medication Safety, pill geometry | Permalink | 2 Responses
Safest and most efficient distribution model
Cardinalhealth.com: “The findings of this analysis demonstrated that in a decentralized medication distribution model, as the percentage of medications in an automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) is increased, there is a direct correlation with: Decreased time to initial dose Decreased missing doses Decreased pharmacist and pharmacy technician labor Decreased non value added nursing activities Increased predictability […]
Posted in Automation, Medication Safety | Tagged ADC, Distribution | Permalink | Leave a response
Pharmacists aren’t completely worthless after all.
An article in the most recent issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reports the results of adding a pharmacist to a health care team to offer up expertise on appropriate use of medication in heart failure and hypertension. The results showed a 35% reduction in adverse drug events, a 48% reduction in preventable adverse drug […]
Posted in Medication Safety | Tagged Medication Safety, Pharmacist | Permalink | 3 Responses
Digital Medicine Article in Business Week
A Business Week article this week took a look at the current state of electronic medical records (EMRs) and technology in healthcare. The author managed to deliver a mixed message without clearly differentiating between electronic medical records and patient safety issues. The article clearly focuses on the negative.
Posted in Medication Safety | Tagged EMR, Medication Safety | Permalink | 4 Responses