Ask any pharmacist that’s been around for a while and they’ll tell you about the headaches associated with faxed medication orders. I can’t tell you how inefficient a fax machine can be for order retrieval, storage and sorting. In fact, fax machines really can’t do any of that. Well, you no longer have to deal with fax machines in the pharmacy if you chose not to.
Pharmacy, or physician, order management systems like OmniLinkRx offer a software only solution designed to reduce the influx of faxed orders to the pharmacy. Not only do systems like this reduce confusion, they also reduce paper waste. I suppose that makes OmniLinkRx “green”. Consider OmniLinkRx a digital fax machine that sends the order to your computer monitor instead of a fax machine.
Read more…
Talyst has been beta-testing a new customer portal for several months now. The idea was introduced to Talyst customers at their user group meeting during the ASHP Summer Meeting in Chicago last June. Beta-testing took place between the summer meeting and December 2009 when Talyst unveiled the portal to a larger user group meeting in Las Vegas at the ASHP Midyear. Attendees were given a demonstration of the portal and offered an opportunity to provide feedback on possible issues or features they’d like to see. Well, it appears that the portal is out of the beta phase and ready for use.
Read more…
The DoseEdge Pharmacy Workflow Manager, formerly IntelliFlowRx Workload Management Software by Baxa, is a system designed to track and manage intravenous (IV) medication dosages prepared by pharmacy personnel in a clean room environment. The system is touted as “The world’s first and only fully integrated workflow manager for the IV room.”
The system is designed to flow something like this:
- IV medication orders entered by the pharmacist, or other healthcare professional, are sent to the DoseEdge system where they appear on the DoseEdge touchscreen.
- When the technician, or pharmacist in some cases, accesses the order via the touchscreen instructions for preparation of the product are displayed.
- The product label is generated.
- The barcode on each injectable ingredient used for the preparation of the IV product is scanned to ensure the correct medications have been selected. Items identified as incorrect result in an audible message of “product not allowed for this dose.”
- The barcode on the IV product label generated by the pharmacy is scanned to ensure that ingredients are appropriately matched.
- Each ingredient is drawn into a syringe.
- An image of the syringe with appropriately drawn medication is taken for review by the pharmacist, or technician, whichever the case may be. This is a nice feature as it allows one to see the actual amount of drug drawn into the syringe prior to shooting it into the fluid bag.
- Ingredients are injected into the fluid bag and an image of the final product is taken.
- A final scan of the product barcode is done to complete the fill.
Read more…
PROmanager-Rx is an automated system from McKesson designed for dispensing unit-dosed oral solids. PROmanager-Rx has a 12,000-dose capacity and uses a conveyor system and bar-code scanner to fill orders generated through the pharmacy information system.
The system automates storage, dispensing, restocking, and various inventory management functions via the McKesson Connect-Rx software platform. And of course the system interfaces with McKesson’s pharmaceutical distribution system.
According to the McKesson product brochure:
The PROmanager-Rx™ system helps hospital pharmacies get the most out of manufacturer packaged oral solid medications. And relieves the burden of medication packaging.
It’s the only fully automated system that directly stores and dispenses pre-packaged oral solids. PROmanager-Rx is ideal for patient-centric filling. Bar-code-driven robotics scan every dose for the greatest possible safety and accuracy.
Pharmacists are freed from packaging and dispensing activities so they can play more integral roles on the clinical care team. Bar-code scanning also simplifies tasks such as managing returns, expired meds, and overall inventory.
Read more…
The ValiMed Medication Validation System by CDEX, Inc.
According to the ValiMed website:
CDEX’s technology stands alone, able to precisely identify medications in real time with its patented Enhanced Photoemission Spectroscopy technology.
Energy at a preset wavelength interrogates the selected substance, capturing a unique emission spectrum which is then compared to the propriety signature, resulting in a simple “VALIDATED” reading when matched.
Each medication reveals its own distinct and easily readable signature. By comparing the fingerprint of a tested medication against the signature for that medication in our data library, the ValiMed technology is able to verify a match, presuming there is one.
The ValiMed Medication and Narcotic Validation System offers superior value to hospital medication safety programs and quality control processes by:
- Providing immediate, real-time validation of the substance itself.
- Providing an opportunity to standardize and optimize internal medication safety processes including Training, QA and Regulatory Compliance.
- Providing a real-time means of validating narcotic returns and mitigating narcotic diversion.
- Providing pharmacy staff and clinicians with a simple, fast, straightforward and cost-effective way to ensure that the RIGHT drug in the RIGHT dose is administered to the patient.
Read more…
As usual there were a lot of things that happened during the week, and not all of it was pharmacy or technology related. Here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I found interesting.
Read more…
2009 brought many new and exciting changes not only in my personal life, but in the world of pharmacy and technology as well. I’ve learned many new things, gained some skills previously absent from my armamentarium, met some great new people, discovered the “real” internet for the first time, traveled more than ever before, discovered I don’t know diddly squat about a great many things, and am more excited about the next year than I can remember in recent history.
Below is a list of opinions about a great many things that I have seen and done over the past year. Some are pharmacy related, some are technology related, some are personal, and some are just random thoughts.
Read more…
Forni A, Chu HT. Technology Utilization to Prevent Medication Errors. Curr Drug Saf. 2009 Oct 7 [ePub]
This is a nice review article explores current technologies available to healthcare and what role they play in the reduction of medication errors. The article provides a short review of literature to support each technology reviewed. Technologies covered include: Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE), Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS), Patient Monitoring: Electronic Surveillance, Reminders, and Alerts, Telemedicine, Bar Code Medication Verification (BMV), a.k.a. Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA), Smart Infusion Pumps, and electronic medication administration record (eMAR).
The article concludes with:
The implementation of health information technology can result in a reduction in ADEs and can impact the quality of patient care. Systems integration and compliance are vital in achieving a safe medication use process. Hospitals that have extensive computerized technology and have greater automation tend to have better patient outcomes, including fewer complications, reduced inpatient mortality and lower hospital costs. Regulatory agencies and payers are now using performance standards and financial incentives to force practices changes. This may increase the speed and likelihood of technology implementation. While many providers may dismiss technology as being beyond their scope of practice or responsibility, both practitioners and patients should be prepared for these changes.
It’s time for healthcare system to take note of this and begin planning accordingly. You can’t escape the explosion of technology available, nor can you afford to ignore the implications of choosing not to use it.
Several times on this blog I have discussed the need to advance pharmacy through the use of new and exciting technologies. Yesterday I experienced something that brings light to the reason pharmacy practice is still in the Stone Age, where it may live forever.
We had a minor pharmacy system upgrade yesterday. The system was down for about 45 minutes. Although minor, the upgrade required the removal of the previous version of the pharmacy software prior to installing the new version. Overall the process went smoothly. However, within a few minutes of giving the pharmacists the all clear I began receiving phone call after phone call because the upgrade “didn’t work” and they couldn’t “get into Siemens”. The problem: the install client failed to put the shortcut icon for the pharmacy system on their desktop. Seriously, that’s the problem? Wow!
The “problem” brought the pharmacy to a standstill. So, the next time you talk about carousel technology, automated packaging, or clinical decision support software, remember that many pharmacists still struggle with using a computer; a device that is common in nearly every household in America.
I bet Steve Jobs doesn’t have these problems. ;-)
Earlier this year the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy published “A vision statement by the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology”. The statement represents thoughts on the current state of pharmacy practice and contains a healthy dose of ideas on how technology can help support and improve pharmacy practice.
Read more…
