Solutions in Use
AcuDose-Rx Users Experience Improved Patient Care, Reduced
Pharmacy Turnaround Times, Tighter Medication Security
Aultman Hospital
Canton, OH
Aultman Hospital is an independent
community teaching hospital in Canton,
Ohio utilizing a centralized pharmacy
model.
“Spatial constraints dictate how we
operate,” said Jim Toohey, Aultman’s
director of pharmacy. “We have a really
long hallway configuration and needed
to minimize nurses traveling to cabinets.
The AcuDose-Rx cabinets give us sufficient
capacity, and because we restock the
cabinets once a day, the filling process is
now quite efficient. We’ve also improved
efficiencies and met legal requirements
in our dispensing process with the use of
the FastEntry™ biometrics finger swipe
device.”
Aultman Staff Nurse Tammie Albrecht,
RN, PCCN, finds that the new cabinets
have improved patient safety. “In our old
system, there were three or four different
meds in a single drawer that would pop
open. Our AcuDose-Rx cabinets feature
high-capacity locking drawers, so when
we dispense only the pocket of the
selected medication can be opened,
ensuring that we take out the correct
medication. AcuDose-Rx has definitely
improved patient safety, and the high
capacity drawers enable us to address
patient needs faster.”
Mimi Gozdan, RN, MSN, CNS, clinical
informatics nurse, echoes that. “Stat meds
are stored in the AcuDose-Rx cabinets,
and we can give an ad hoc or new order
simply by scanning the information in.
Once we have the physician order, we
go to the cabinet and access the patient
profile and select the med. We then go to
the patient bedside, scan the ID band and
the bar-coded medication to create the
order for administration. We no longer
have to wait for pharmacy to deliver the
order so our patients aren’t waiting a
long time for their medicine. I did a study
and the average times on the old system
was 6 to 8 hours whereas now it’s less
than 1 hour. We’ve reduced pharmacy
turnaround time by 100 percent and at
more 4,000 orders each day; this has
made a huge difference in the care of our
patients.”
Solutions in Use – AcuDose-Rx
Titus Regional Medical Center
Mount Pleasant, TX
Titus Regional Medical Center in
Mount Pleasant, Texas is a 165-bed
facility that operates under a centralized
pharmacy model.
Ruth Sabacky, Director of Pharmacy, was
involved in the transition to AcuDose-Rx
cabinets, which was part of a larger
effort to add an integrated process into
their workflow as they move to bedside
administration. “We’ve only been up since
August but our addition of AcuDose-Rx
has helped us put new processes in place.
Some of the processes it uses are definite
improvements over Pyxis. For example, the
narcotic filling is better, more reconciled.
A major refill is done once a day, the rest
are segregated by department and while
it takes the techs about the same amount
of time as it used to, it is easier with
AcuDose-Rx. The FastEntry™ dispensing
method has helped a lot in the pharmacy
because before we were dealing with
passwords and had to enter the list
McKesson Automation Solutions
500 Cranberry Woods Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
(724) 741-8000
www.mckesson.com
© 2010 McKesson Corporation product and service names listed herein which bear the ® and ™ symbols are registered with
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other product and service names are protected by non-registered trademarks or service
marks, respectively.
AUTO207_4/10
of users on a real-time basis. With the
biometrics ID, the only changes we have
to make are for terminations or staff
additions. I’m a big stickler for med
security, and AcuDose-Rx has really
tightened it down. It’s been a huge help
that NarcStation reconciles with AcuDose-
Rx when dispensing out. If anything
differs, it will flag you right away.
Gena Mathison, RN, Clinical Coordinator,
finds the ability to review different
dispensing patterns has made an impact
in controlling drug diversion. “The nursing
field has always had issues with diversion,
but with AcuDose-Rx we can identify
potential issues and pinpoint problems
sooner. Now we can see who is trying to
access the cabinet and whether they were
attempting to access a specific pocket.
If a nurse is pulling a certain med all of
the time, it sends a red flag so we can go
back to that person with proof of what
they were doing.”