ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Responding to the healthcare industry’s urgent need to protect medical equipment from computer virus attacks, Omnicell, Inc. today announced Omnicell(R) 9000 ST, powerful software that will allow hospitals to protect data critical for safely administering patient medications. Beta testing is currently under way at the University of Michigan Health System’s University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Omnicell’s announcement, made at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting being held this week in Orlando, comes on the heels of the FDA’s call for medtech (medical technology) companies to help protect equipment and medical devices against computer viruses, Trojan horses, worms and “electronic marauders.”
Brian Fitzgerald, acting deputy director of the division of electrical and software engineering at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health in August told attendees at the Veteran Administration’s annual information technology (IT) conference in Washington, D.C. it is the responsibility of medtech manufacturers -- not hospital IT departments -- to ensure that medical software is properly patched and updated with the latest releases provided by the operating system vendor. Fitzgerald noted that malfunctioning equipment can pose a significant threat to healthcare efficacy and patient safety.
Omnicell 9000 ST runs on the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP operating system, giving hospital IT departments the ability to use any of the leading anti-virus software packages to protect patient data.
Omnicell 9000 ST also offers a powerful Web-browsing tool for accessing Internet and intranet databases aimed at improving patient safety.
“Nurses and pharmacists can get clinical and patient education information, in real time, from both Internet and hospital intranet sites,” explained Dianne Smart, Omnicell product manager, medication systems. “Nurses also can check to see if there are contraindications for a patient’s medications or they can access hospital policies and procedures and clinical consent forms from any computer station. It is a very powerful information- sharing tool.”
Another major Omnicell 9000 ST feature is OmniExplorer, which gives nurses access to time-sensitive patient, pharmacy, and materials management data and reports, including patient medication history, user transactions, and item availability, which displays the availability of medication at supply locations throughout the facility, utilizing the OmniCenter(R) database.
“If I’m a nurse,” explained Smart, “and I find that my drug cabinet is out of the medication I need for a patient, I can use OmniExplorer to find that drug in any other cabinet in the hospital, allowing me to quickly get it without calling the pharmacy.” Not only can the nurse get the needed medication--without worrying whether the pharmacy is even open--he or she can be assured it will be properly recorded for materials management and charged to the proper patient, according to Smart.
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’s OptiFlex(TM) product line provides open bar code systems, cabinet-based supply management, integrated open and cabinet-based systems, and Web-based procurement. More than 1,500 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 http://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/