Anesthesia Check – O.R. syringe labeling and medication tracking system

Got a chance to see the new Anesthesia Check system from KitCheck while at ASHP Midyear. The system is designed using RFID and bar code technologies to provide safety for syringe labeling in the operating room (OR), as well as chain of custody and waste tracking for all medications used by anesthesia during surgery.

The system uses color coding for anesthesia medications in addition to the  bar code and RFID technologies mentioned above. I asked about the color coding for the syringes. The KitCheck representative answered me, but I don’t remember the information provided. I assume the label guidelines are those adopted by the United States, published by the American Society of Anesthesiologists in 2004 and reviewed in 2009. The guidelines are based on standards published by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the International Organizations for Standardization (ISO). They cover things like the size and characteristics of the label, color choice – like those of the Pantone scale – information contained in the label, and label placement.

The system was pretty slick, consisting of an Android tablet (Nexus 10), a color label printer for printing on RFID tags, and a small RFID reader that is attached to the tablet. The user interface was clean and simple, which I found refreshing. The product development team gets bonus points from me for using a Nexus 10.

I snapped some quick photos which can be found below.

From the press release:

PRWeb: “[December 9, 2013) – Kit Checkâ„¢ today announced the launch of Anesthesia Checkâ„¢ (http://anesthesiacheck.com), a new cloud-hosted software tool to manage and track medications in the operating room (OR). Anesthesia Check brings benefits to hospital pharmacists, anesthesiologists and CRNAs.

For pharmacists, Anesthesia Check creates real-time inventory visibility and closed-loop tracking of DEA scheduled medications. This increases patient safety, reduces diversion and improves stocking efficiency. For anesthesiologists, the solution automates American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) compliant syringe labeling, medication charting and controlled medication documentation. Anesthesia Check saves time by streamlining administration tasks and reduces stock-out incidents through improved inventory tracking. It also provides a machine verification before medication is administered in the OR to reduce the risk of using an incorrect or expired medication.”