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UMHS prescribes technology for medication safety
In 2004, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Sun Microsystems’ Scott McNealy nominated the University of Michigan Health System for two Smithsonian Institution Computerworld awards in recognition of Pharmacy Services’ efforts to combat patient medication errors.
The honor of the nomination was topped by our win of both awards—a testament to this institution’s commitment to quality, safety and efficiency.
“When it comes to medication errors, if we really want zero defects, we have to eliminate dependence on human checks alone,” says James Stevenson, Pharm.D., director, Pharmacy Services. “That means introducing technology to heighten accuracy, impose control and save steps.”
Stevenson’s answer to demanding pharmacy output was to acquire two pharmacy automated dispensing systems: Omnicell cabinets and ScriptPro.
More than 100 Omnicell cabinets handle the 24/7 demands of the hospital. They’re like an ATM for drugs. Each drawer holds a different medication, which is placed in the drawer using bar code verification to ensure the right drug is put in the correct location. Cabinets remain locked until the nurse requests a drug using a biometric ID pad reading a fingerprint or by inputting a name and password. This records the nurse’s name, date and time of withdrawal, and the prescription taken.
Nurses reportedly like the system’s guiding light technology, which directs them to the right drawer, reducing the possibility of errors. The system also deters narcotic theft (missing medications are automatically traced to the person who opened the bin) and generates government-required reporting.
The main Ambulatory Care Pharmacy uses ScriptPro, which also uses bar code technology to dispense prescriptions for outpatients—at a rate of 150 prescriptions per hour. A human can safely fill about 20 prescriptions an hour.
“Now our pharmacists have more time to talk to patients about their medication instead of constantly filling prescriptions,” says Stevenson. “In addition, the bar code scanning results in greater accuracy in dispensing.”
A third technology scans high-risk intravenous medications, comparing the drug’s fluorescence fingerprint with a library of standards before dispensing the drug. U- M pharmacists worked with the manufacturers of ValiMed to create a library of 10 high-risk medications, and pilot tested it before implementing the system at Mott. A Mott team is working with the manufacturer to develop libraries for more medications.
Stevenson foresees in the future that nurses will use handheld, bedside bar code technology to scan the patient’s hospital wristband—making sure that the right patient receives the right drug. “We’re looking forward to closing all the loops so we keep our patients even safer,” says Stevenson.
Learn more about Quality & Safety at UMHS
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