This week’s Cool Technology for Pharmacy is the OnDemand 400 for RxMap from MTS, a company that specializes in adherence packaging systems.
According to the MTS website:
OnDemand ® 400 for RxMap ® is the first pharmacy automation equipment system designed specifically for multi-med adherence packaging.
This efficient system uses OnDemand technology to dispense multiple medications for a single patient quickly and accurately and in a fraction of the time it would take to do it manually. This pharmacy automation equipment system utilizes a custom interface to work with your existing information systems, enabling automated workflow management in the pharmacy. This single data input process reduces input time and the possibility of data entry errors. OnDemand ® 400 for RxMap ® uses bar-code technology to accurately dispense multiple medications into one compartment – as many or as few as needed. RxMap ® Adherence Packs vary in size and shape to meet the needs of the customers you serve. The finished product is a patient – specific adherence package filled “just-in-time” for your customer.
I still work in the pharmacy on occasion. It keeps me up to date with changes that I’ve made to various pharmacy systems and gives me the opportunity to make sure my pharmacist skills haven’t evaporated. One thing it doesn’t do is get me away from my current technology related duties. In fact it puts me closer to the action and even more accessible to pretty much everyone, which means I spend a majority of my “staffing” time dealing with things related to our automation; carousel picks and loads, packager fills, compunder checking, labeler input and checking, minor troubleshooting, etc. It’s not that someone else can’t do it, but that’s the way it works out. Read more…
Healthcare IT News: “The economy is forcing hospitals to consider delaying or scaling back their IT projects, according to a survey of America’s “most wired” hospitals and health systems.The Most Wired Survey, conducted annually by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the American Hospital Association, found that even with incentives being made available to implement IT, hospitals still have a long way to go.” Read more…
I’ve decided to do something a little bit different this week. Below is a presentation I had to give following the completion of our pharmacy remodel and the implementation of our pharmacy barcode system. More images of the implementation can be found here.
During my recent trip back east I had the opportunity to drop in on the inpatient pharmacy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago. The reason for the visit was simple. I was already in Chicago for the ASHP Summer Meeting and Northwestern utilizes some of the same pharmacy automation as Kaweah Delta. One would think that the same automation would equal the same procedures, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is one of the fundamental problems with hospital pharmacy in general. Lack of standardization equates to the inability to share information across multiple facilities. Best practice is elusive when talking about automation in pharmacy. Read more…
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, and for good reason. They offer a great product. Read more…
If you float something out over the internet, someone is going to see it and keep you honest. Remember what I said, “There is always someone smarter, harder working, more motivated and better informed than me, and those are the people I want to hear from.” Well, those people have responded with some great information pertaining to barcoding and pharmacy automation. Read more…
I had the opportunity to speak with a nice young lady from Talyst this morning about extending our barcoding system to our pharmacy satellites. She had great insight into what we wanted to do and offered some very helpful tips. The conversation took an interesting turn when she asked me how I liked the system and where I thought improvements could be made. After the initial shock of a vendor asking me my opinion, we spent a few minutes discussing the system and how our workflow has changed for the better.
Overall, we have been very pleased with our barcoding system. I wish all platforms ran as smoothly as our Talyst products. However, there is always room for improvement. I understand that Talyst is currently working on a “big” new release of their AutoPharm software that is focused on patient safety. I don’t have specifics, but it is possible that some of the items listed here are already in the works. Read more…
I’ve noticed a trend over the past few months. Several medications that we typically purchase are no longer available in unit-dosed, barcode ready packaging. The result has been the purchase of more and more medications in bulk, which require repackaging and barcoding prior to dispensing. The reason for the trend is unclear, but appears to be a difference in opinion on what information should be contained in the barcode and what barcode standard to use. Even with organizations like ASHP encouraging manufacturers to develop standards and the FDA requiring barcodes on prescription medications, there appears to be a gap. Read more…
a single patient quickly and accurately and in a fraction of the time it would take to do it manually. This pharmacy automation equipment system utilizes a custom interface to work with your existing information systems, enabling automated workflow management in the pharmacy. This single data input process reduces input time and the possibility of data entry errors. OnDemand ® 400 for RxMap ® uses bar-code technology to accurately dispense multiple medications into one compartment – as many or as few as needed. RxMap ® Adherence Packs vary in size and shape to meet the needs of the customers you serve. The finished product is a patient – specific adherence package filled “just-in-time” for your customer.
