JEFFERSON, N.C., Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ashe Memorial Hospital, a rural healthcare center with 76 acute care beds and a 60-bed long-term care unit, has installed Omnicell’s MedGuard(TM) state-of-the-art automation technology to help increase patient safety and eliminate errors in the medication-use process.
The announcement was made during a news conference held at the 2006 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference and Exhibition.
The new Omnicell equipment establishes electronic links between the hospital’s central pharmacy and nursing units, outpatient surgery, and emergency room using bar codes to order, secure and verify medications before they are administered to patients. The bar codes on packaged medications, along with password-protected medication storage cabinets and real-time medication safety alerts to nurses, create additional levels of safety.
“Patient safety was our number one goal,” says Bill Smith, B.S., pharmacy director for Ashe Memorial Hospital. “I was familiar with Omnicell at another hospital and was impressed with the company’s technology that improves the medication-use process from the pharmacy to the patient bedside. It is truly an end-to-end solution.”
Smith says that he already has seen improvements in the process of providing 3,000 prescriptions each month to Ashe Memorial patients and intends to add a bedside verification technology and electronic patient records in the near future.
Ashe’s new technology includes: OmniLinkRx(TM), a physician order management system; OmniRx(R) automated cabinets for storing and dispensing drugs; SecureVault(TM) for controlled substance inventory management; SafetyStock(TM), which utilizes bar code scanning to confirm the identity of medications and supply products for restock and selected issues and return to OmniRx cabinets; and the Anesthesia Workstation, a mobile system for the management of anesthesia supplies and medications tailored for the workflow of the clinician at the point of care.
About Ashe Memorial
Ashe Memorial Hospital, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, is a rural hospital that has a remarkably sophisticated level of care for a county with a population of 25,000. Ashe Memorial offers laparoscopic, general, and orthopedic surgery, complete eye care including cataract treatment diagnostic imaging, pediatric medicine, cardiopulmonary therapy and testing, nutritional counseling, Lifeline Emergency Response Program(SM), endoscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, physical therapy, The Wilma Vannoy Birthing Center, Mountain Hearts Center for Prevention and Wellness, mammography, and a 24-hour emergency room.
About Omnicell
Established in 1992, Omnicell is a leading provider of patient safety solutions preferred by nurses. Improving patient care by enhancing operational efficiency, Omnicell solutions are used throughout the healthcare facility -- in the pharmacy, nursing units, surgical services, cath lab, and all the way to the patient’s bedside. The company’s MedGuard(TM) line of solutions for the medication-use process includes systems for physician order management, automated pharmacy retrieval, medication packaging, medication dispensing, and nursing workflow automation with bar code medication administration. For the medical-surgical supply chain, Omnicell provides open bar code systems, cabinet-based supply management, integrated open and cabinet-based systems, and Web-based procurement. More than 1,600 healthcare facilities use Omnicell solutions to help reduce medication errors, operate more efficiently, and decrease costs -- ultimately contributing to improved clinical and financial outcomes. For more information, visit www.omnicell.com.
Omnicell, Inc.
CONTACT: Bruce Lewis of Lewis & Summers Public Relations, +1-707-964-3844,or bruce@prwebsite.com, for Omnicell, Inc.
Web site: http://www.omnicell.com//
