Drug Topics - January 28, 2008 - (Page H16) 16 HSE DRUG TOPICS JANUARY 28, 2008 www.drugtopics.com > > > Technology Patient safety is focus of technology showcase at ASHP meeting Michael Barbella T ools to help hospital pharmacists improve patient safety, better manage medications, and reduce overall costs dominated the exhibit floor at ASHP’s Midyear Clinical Meeting in Las Vegas last month. Many of the more than 380 companies that touted their products and services at the meeting used the four-day event to debut new software or introduce new dispensing systems. Those who roamed among the nearly 1,400 booths found a treasure trove of novelties and discovered better, more efficient ways of doing their jobs, whether it be centralizing medications or quickly compiling patient data. Here is a sampling of the kinds of technological innovations showcased at the meeting: McKesson Corp. of San Francisco marked the first anniversary of its High Performance Pharmacy Web site by introducing a supplementary assessment tool and benchmarking service. Pharmacists and healthsystem executives who visit the site can now use the interactive High Performance Pharmacy Assessment Tool to evaluate their institution’s practices and identify ways to achieve the best performance. For pharmacists who wonder how their business measures up to others in the industry, McKesson has created the High Performance Pharmacy Benchmarking Service. Users of this service can compare their pharmacy operations to others based on size, dispensing models, and deployed technology. Entropy Solutions Inc. of Minneapolis celebrated the debut of GREENBOX, an environmentally friendly packaging technology, by handing out small green “boxes” to visitors—in the form of fuzzy green dice. Similar to the plastic mail bins found in post offices, the GREENBOX features liquid-filled plastic squares that freeze and thaw according to temperature changes and panels that protect drugs and blood supplies from external temperature extremes for up to five days GREENBOX claims to during shipping. Entropy President reduce drug spoilage Eric Lindquist said the technology can during shipping. help customers save up to 65% annually on shipping costs and reduce the amount of drugs that spoil during the shipping process. In December 2006, Omnicell Inc. gave nurses the ability to obtain a filtered list of patients’ medication orders. Now the Mountain View, Calif.-based company is enabling nurses and hospital pharmacists to store, manage, and track medications with its SinglePointe software. SinglePointe provides caregivers with an auto-assign process that matches patients and their medications that are not routinely stocked in a hospital’s dispensing system. The software also sends out a warning when drugs should no longer be used and reminds nurses to transfer medications to a different part of the hospital when patients are transferred between floors or units. Asolva Inc. of Los Angeles unveiled a Web-based tool that allows hospital pharmacists to compile clinical data on patients. Medici links with a hospital’s electronic medical records system to help pharmacists collect data such as medication profiles. Besides enabling pharmacists to make better decisions on patient care, Medici allows R.Ph.s to input notes and status flags that can be shared with colleagues, resulting in more stringent monitoring of compliance and patients’ progress. Cardinal Health took advantage of its recent partnership with Sentry Data Systems Inc. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., to teach hospitals how to capture the savings benefit of the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Using Sentry Data Systems’ Sentinel RCM (Revenue Cycle Manager) software, hospitals can better track inventory, automate their pharmaceutical procurement and replenishment for 340B, and computerize wholesale acquisition and group purchasing organization contracts. The software also tracks drug purchases, dispensations, and billing. QuadraMed of Reston, Va., provided demonstrations of its Pharmacy Integrated Medication Management (IMM), a wireless point-of-care medication scanning system that enables pharmacists and nurses to verify patients’ identities and validate drugs against active orders. The system—designed to reduce medication errors and streamline workflow— allows nurses to use handheld wireless scanners at patients’ bedside to ensure they are receiving the proper doses of medication. Pharmacy IMM also allows pharmacists to verify patient medication orders and helps enhance communication with doctors and nurses. THE AUTHOR is a writer based in New Jersey. http://www.drugtopics.com
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