Aethon launches TraySafe at #ASHPSM15 in Denver

I’ve been at the ASHP Summer Meeting in Denver this week roaming the exhibit hall looking for interesting new products. One product that caught my attention was TraySafe by Aethon.

TraySafe is a medication tray management system. There are several such systems currently on the market, but what makes TraySafe different is its approach to the replenishment process. The system utilizes a combination of photo recognition and barcode scanning to analyze tray content and notify the user of items that are missing, in the wrong location, or about to expire.

TraySafe uses:

• 2D barcodes to manage and track tray inventory. This allows Aethon to embed several pieces of data in the barcode, such as lot number, expiration date, NDC number, and serialized identification; which allows the system to identify one epinephrine syringe from another, for example.
• 2D barcodes to manage and track each individual tray.
• Photo recognition. According to a company representative TraySafe snaps a 64MP photo of the tray and its contents when placed in the scanning station. The system then scans the photo looking for item location as well as item barcodes.
• Medication tray templates. Templates are built by the user to identify product quantity and location, i.e. 3 vials of epinephrine 1mg/mL – 30mL. Everyone is familiar with this concept as each medication tray type has its own layout and is content specific, i.e. an adult crash cart tray is different than an L&D anesthesia tray, which is different than a pediatric intubation kit, and so on.

Workflow:

1. Trays are placed in the TraySafe scanning station and scanned.
2. TraySafe images the tray and scans the unique 2D barcode on the tray for identification. This appears as a blue dot in the bottom left corner image below.
3. TraySafe analyzes the tray contents via barcode scan and notifies the user when items are missing, in the wrong location, or about to expire. As the system scans the contents, small green dots appear on the screen over each item. Items identified as correct are identified with a green dot. Items that are identified as incorrect – wrong location, wrong drug, ready to expire – receive a red dot. Pretty simple, but clearly visible to the user. See image below.

4. Once the scan is complete, TraySafe displays a secondary image of the tray layout showing pockets where there was a problem, i.e. where there was a “red dotted” item. See image below.

5. The user makes corrections and rescans the tray. Once the contents of the tray are deemed 100% accurate, the user prints a report and the tray is ready to go.

Overall, the TraySafe system is intriguing. Aethon has taken a different approach to the process, and while it’s not perfect – I can see potential holes in the process – it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few months.