Jerry Fahrni

Category: Barcoding

  • An almost disastrous bar-coding mishap

    At some point in the past few days it was decided that our technicians should re-label all injectable controlled substances with one of our “after market” flag labels. I’m not sure when or how the decision was made, but it was. When questioned about it, the rationale behind the decision was that the nurses were wasting unused medication at the ADCs and not taking the vial to the bedside. And apparently the solution was to use our flag labels because they offer a peel away section that can be taken to the bedside with the drug in a syringe for scanning and administration purposes.
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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – RxVerify

    While reading through a pharmacy listserv I came across a seemingly simple piece of software that fills an important gap in the pharmacy distribution process. RxVerify, by Pharmacy Ideas, is a bar-code verification system used during the medication restocking phase for code boxes, anesthesia trays, transport boxes, etc.
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  • Bar-code musings

    Bar-code verbiage
    Last week I posted some examples of difficult bar-codes. The post was well received and generated a fair number of comments; for me anyway. One of the commenters, John Nachtrieb of Fotel, had this to say: “Jerry: Another comment–The ASHP Statement on Barcode Verification (If I’m reading it accurately) speaks about using a barcode to verify that the medication is correct, which is a different usage of the term “verify” than I think you are using. Barcode pro’s use “verify” the same way you do–making sure the symbol is “legible” to the scanner. Then there is the issue of “validation” which, in the parlance of barcode professionals, refers to making sure the barcode correctly identifies the product it’s on.”
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  • OTC drug interaction analyzer for smartphones

    Medilyzer is a smartphone application designed to provide mobile information and drug interaction checking for various over-the-counter (OTC) medications. The application is available for both the iPhone and Android smartphones, and according to the Medilyzer website a BlackBerry edition is on its way.
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  • A recent trifecta for bar-coding

    Bar-code medication administration has been around for a while, but hasn’t gained the same notoriety as other forms of healthcare technology like computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and clinical decision support (CDS). However, it looks like the tide is starting to change as we’re currently in a unique position to see bar-coding from several different angles.
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  • Scanning difficulties with certain barcodes

    I’ve been following the Twitter stream from the ASHP Midyear in Tampa (#ashpsm10). Sunday morning I saw a Tweet from Karl Gumpper come through the ticker stating “ASHP Statement on Barcode on Inventory, Compound & Dispense approved by House of Delegates.” That’s a good thing.

    The ASHP Statement on Bar-code Verification During Inventory, Preparation, and Dispensing of Medications can be found here. I re-read the paper Monday morning. There is a lot of good information throughout the document, but I one paragraph in particular caught my attention. “In addition, for BCMA to function, a vast majority of doses must be accurately bar coded, meaning there must be a highly reliable relationship between the information in the bar code and the contents of the dose. Additionally, the bar code must be readable by commercially-available scanners. Although doses delivered directly from manufacturer-labeled packages generally meet these conditions, there are numerous drug products that may not.” This makes sense as a bar-code is useless if it can’t be easily read by a scanner.  And believe me when I say that we find our fair share of bar-codes that don’t want to cooperate. The same can be said for bar-code scanners. I’ve heard people say that almost any of the new bar-code scanners today will do the job. I humbly disagree as I’ve had the misfortune of using some awful bar-code scanners on our way to settling on those currently used in our facility. Some of it is personal preference, but some of it is quality of the device. I’ve written about my opinion for consistency with scanning hardware before.
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  • Participating in the ASHP Summer Meeting from afar #ashpsm10

    The inability to physically be in Tampa, FL shouldn’t stop someone from participating in the ASHP Summer Meeting. Technology doesn’t care that I’m 2700 miles away or that I’m sitting in my home in my bunny slippers with Diet Pepsi in hand. With a webcam and speaker phone I was able to join a user group discussion held by Talyst.
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  • Update on AutoPharm software only pilot

    A couple of months ago we became a beta site for a Talyst AutoPharm software only solution. It’s not really a “software only” solution as it consists of a POS-X PC117 workstation, a Code CR3 scanner and a Zebra ZM400 printer, and of course Talyst’s AutoPharm software, but there are no carousels attached to it.
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  • Carousel technology article in AJHP

    AJHP: “Implementation and evaluation of carousel dispensing technology in a university medical center pharmacy (Am J Health Syst Pharm 2010 67: 821-829)

    Results. The estimated labor savings comparing the preimplementation and postimplementation time studies for automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) refills, first-dose requests, supplemental cart fill, and medication procurement totaled 2.6 full-time equivalents (FTEs). After departmental reorganization, a net reduction of 2.0 technician FTEs was achieved. The average turnaround time for stat medication requests using CDT was 7.19 minutes, and the percentage of doses filled in less than 20 minutes was 95.1%. After implementing CDT, the average accuracy rate for all dispense requests increased from 99.02% to 99.48%. The inventory carrying cost was reduced by $25,059.

    Conclusion. CDT improved the overall efficiency and accuracy of medication dispensing in a university medical center pharmacy. Workflow efficiencies achieved in ADC refill, first-dose dispensing, supplemental cart fill, and the medication procurement process allowed the department to reduce the amount of technician labor required to support the medication distribution process, as well as reallocate technician labor to other areas in need. ”

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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – LXE Bluetooth Ring Scanner

    A recent conversation with Carla Corkern, CEO of Talyst, resulted in this week’s Cool Technology for Pharmacy.

    The LXE 8650 Bluetooth Ring Scanner is a pretty neat, albeit homely, piece of hardware. The device is designed with wearability in mind to provide the end-user with hands-free operation.

    The LXE 8650 consists of a ring scanner and a Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth module is attached to the wrist via a velcro strap and the ring scanner fits on the finger and is operated by a thumb trigger. The system is lightweight coming in at only 4.8 ounces (136 grams), and that includes the ring scanner, Bluetooth module, battery and wrist strap. The scanner is designed with a magnesium alloy housing so it can take a beating, something that is a necessity in the pharmacy. In addition to the magnesium housing the system is sealed to IP54 standards1 and can withstand multiple drops from up to 4 feet to concrete. Battery life appears to be pretty good and can deliver up to 17,000 scans on a single charge. I don’t know about your pharmacy, but that equates to more than 24 hours of continuous use before a charge is necessary.
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