RUSTON, La., April 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lincoln General Hospital has purchased the latest generation of profile-driven medication dispensing technology to improve patient safety and staff efficiency.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991203/SFF009 )
The new medication dispensing hardware and software system is manufactured by Omnicell , a leading provider of patient safety solutions preferred by nurses.
Lincoln’s new drug dispensing cabinets and profiling system, to be installed in all medical-surgical units and the emergency room by the end of August, “will reduce medication errors, increase nursing and pharmacy efficiency and reduce hospital and patient costs,” said Jim Dowies, Lincoln General’s director of pharmacy operations.
“We’re going cartless,” explained Dowies. “We will eliminate unlocked, mobile patient drug carts and replace them with secure, password-protected cabinets that give nurses access only to their patient’s medications, and only to those drugs approved by the patient’s doctor and reviewed by a hospital pharmacist. Ultimately, it will help the patient receive medications faster and safer than ever before.” The system will help aid physicians and nurses to verify that their patients are receiving the right medication and the right dose, at the right time. Because the cabinets use Omnicell’s patented guiding lights to lead the nurse to the right medication, there is less chance of mixing up two medications that look or sound similar. Instant checking over the Internet for possible adverse drug reactions is also built in.
“About 90 percent of the time, a nurse will no longer have to run down to the pharmacy for a stat or urgent order or wait until a pharmacy technician delivers it because it will already be stocked in the Omnicell cabinet,” Dowies added. “At the same time, a nurse can run a report that will tell her or him when the last dose was administered, adding another level of safety.”
Connected to the central pharmacy computer system, the Omnicell cabinets also communicate patient drug charges as medications are used, keep track of who administers drugs and when drugs are administered, and alert the hospital pharmacy when a cabinet drops below an established “par level” and needs restocking.
Dowies said the hospital also has purchased several Omnicell cabinets with OmniDispenser modules for controlling and dispensing narcotics, noting the dispensing systems give only the required medication dose, much like a vending machine. “Our nurses will no longer be required to count or keep track of how many narcotics come out of the system. The OmniDispenser will only dispense the exact dose associated with the physician’s order. This eliminates the potential for giving the wrong medication or dose of a particular narcotic, making our patients’ stays safer.”
Another automation safety technology being installed is OmniLinkRx(TM), a physician order management system. OmniLinkRx simplifies the communication of orders from remote nursing stations to the pharmacy. At each nursing station, physician orders are either scanned into digital senders or sent via fax machines to the OmniLinkRx server. The electronic image of each order is then instantly communicated to the pharmacy workstations.
“Technicians and pharmacists can then enter physician orders into the pharmacy system while viewing a digital image of the actual physician order online,” said Dowies. “Ultimately, the system will enable us to increase efficiency, improve patient care and patient safety.”
All of the systems are connected to the hospital’s healthcare information system, allowing collection of information or reordering medications and creation of required government reports on dispensing controlled substances.
About Lincoln General Hospital
One of the top resident employers in Lincoln Parish, Lincoln General has over 600 employees. Its active medical staff is made up of 51 physicians, with 20 specialties represented. Areas of specialty includes Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Family Practice, General Surgery, Hematology/Oncology, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physiatry, Podiatry, Pulmonology, Radiology, and Urology. In addition, there are 21 dentists and physicians on the courtesy staff. Over 100 women and men from the community volunteer their time in the Lincoln General Hospital Auxiliary, serving in three areas of the hospital.
About Omnicell
Established in 1992, Omnicell is a leading provider of patient safety solutions preferred by nurses. Addressing the medication-use process and the medical-surgical supply chain, Omnicell’s broad range of solutions are used throughout the healthcare facility -- in the pharmacy, nursing units, operating room, cardiac cath lab, and all the way to the patient’s bedside. Improving patient care by enhancing operational efficiency, Omnicell’s end-to-end solutions include systems for physician order management, automated pharmacy retrieval, medication packaging, medication and supply dispensing, open bar code supply management, nursing workflow automation at the bedside, and Web-based procurement. More than 1,400 healthcare facilities use Omnicell’s solutions to reduce medication errors, operate more efficiently, and decrease costs -- ultimately contributing to improved clinical and financial outcomes. For more information, visit http://www.omnicell.com/.
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CONTACT: Bruce Lewis of Lewis & Summers Public Relations,+1-707-964-3844, or bruce@prwebsite.com, for Omnicell
Web site: http://www.omnicell.com/