Dispensing medicine at the touch of a button

Sierra View District Hospital will soon have a new automated medicine-dispensing cabinet system throughout the hospital that will revolutionize the way nurses offer medications to the patients.

“Its the forefront of technology,” said Rick Kappe, director of pharmacy. “The software we have is about 10 to 12 years old and with all the new mandates of electronic documents and electronic charting, we needed something new. [Pharmaceutical companies] have really been listening to what hospitals were needing, from a practical point. So looking forward five years, Pyxus suits our medication needs — now and in the future.”

The hospital’s current pharmaceutical system — MedSelect — has been outgrown, Kappe said.

That’s why Kappe said he had nurses try several sytems before narrowing it down between two — the Omnicell medication-dispensing system and Pyxus.

Omnicell turned out to be too small of a system.

Kappe said he was impressed with everything Pyxus had to offer, including a SmartPump — a “smart” infusion pump, or Intravenous (IV) Pump, that has a drug library built into its customized software to help prevent medication errors.

The pump will alert the nursing staff if a programed infusion is outside of a certain medication’s parameters — wrong dose, dosing unit, rate or concentration.

It also logs data, alerts, times, dates, drugs, concentrations, programmed rates, and the volume infused. The same information is also available with the entire Pyxus auto-replenishing pharmacy system, and those reports will help physicians and nurses manage the medications and patients.

“Especially since everything is moving towards that electronic age,” Kappe said. “Basically its a new world for the nurses, one that translates to patient safety and proper documentation — all at the touch of a button.”

In addition, the medication cabinet will send an automatic report to the pharmacy when medications in the cart are low. It also helps keep track of all state and federal regulations.

“It’s like refilling an ATM machine with money,” Kappe said.

But instead of filling it with money, it is filled with medications.

The Pyxus company plans to have in-service classes for all of the hospital’s nurses in late August or early September. Once the training is complete, the new system will be implemented throughout the hospital.

Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or eavila@portervillerecorder.com.