38
BizVoice/Indiana Chamber – May/June 2017
These numbers from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration generate immediate attention:
Medication errors cause at least one death every
day and injure nearly 1.3 million people annually in
the United States.
The FDA asserts problems can occur anywhere in
the distribution system, including prescription,
repackaging, dispensing, administering or monitoring.
With human error one of the factors in play, hospitals
are turning to automation in their pharmacies.
Around the carousel
For Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, the Omnicell
10-pan vertical carousel, which holds about 2,100 drugs, was a new
addition when the hospital expanded to a 4,300-square-foot pharmacy
last fall.
“Some of the bigger facilities in the state use it (the carousel) –
like larger hospitals in Indianapolis,” explains Tim Livesay, pharmacy
director. “It probably is more unique for a hospital our size (a nearly
70-bed hospital with 20 pharmacy staff).”
Previously, Hancock Regional’s nursing units relied on printouts
to guide restocking efforts.
“We’d grab a piece of paper, go to all the shelves, and pull and
have it lined up,” Livesay says. “The carousel automates all that – the
cabinets integrate and talk to the carousel. It sends it to the computer
and comes up on a monitor, and we fill off of this monitor now.”
Livesay lists patient safety as the primary reason for investing in
the carousel. He doesn’t disclose what Hancock Regional paid for its
model, but reveals carousels can cost as much as $500,000 with full
amenities in place. Beyond the added safety, he is also pleased with its
boost to inventory control management.
“We cut our annual inventory from eight hours to about four
hours at the end of last year,” he recalls. “With this, we do monthly
counts on specific drugs.”
Livesay adds, “We never want to do away with the human
looking at it to make sure you’re getting the right thing, but it’s a
check to make sure you’re getting the right medication.”
Community Hospital in Munster (part of the Community Healthcare
System) has two carousels in its inpatient pharmacy, according to
Elizabeth Clements, director of pharmacy.
“Basically, I use them to manage all my inventory,” she notes.
“Everything that comes in gets assigned a spot in my carousel, whether
it’s in the physical or a remote location like a refrigerator. It keeps a
perpetual inventory of everything I have on the shelf and then it also
allows us to bar code products in and back out again for patients.”
Retail relevance
Community Hospital includes another machine for automation in
its retail pharmacy, as a Script Pro robotic prescription dispensing
system fills its bottles. (The pharmacy recently upgraded to a ScriptPro
SP 200 from the 100 model; the numbers relate to how many cassettes
of drugs they hold.)
“If it’s one of the drugs that’s entered into the pharmacy
information system in retail, it will identify that’s how it gets filled,
send it to the robot, the robot will fill a bottle with the prescribed
number of doses, label it and put it into a conveyor belt for us to pull,”
Clements outlines.
The robot condenses the inventory space that’s needed and
Hospitals Add Robotic Assistance
MEDICATION
MANAGEMENT
By Matt Ottinger
Indiana Vision 2025:
Attractive Business Climate