Bar Coding
Four leading acute-care hospitals have chosen McKesson's robotic medication dispensing and integrated pharmacy automation solutions as part of a total bar-code-based pharmacy system for medication safety and operational efficiency. The dispensers ensure that patient medications picked by the robot are bar-code scanned for accuracy before leaving the pharmacy.
The most recent hospitals to contract for the automated solutions are: Chesapeake Regional Medical Center (Chesapeake, Va..), Knapp Medical Center (Westlaco, Texas), Nash General Hospital (Rocky Mount, N.C.) and Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center (Bronx, N.Y). These organizations join approximately one-third of the nation's large and medium-size hospitals that already use the ROBOT-Rx system. Nationally, the solution dispenses a combined half a billion medication doses error-free each year. The robot has proven to increase medication dispensing accuracy to greater than 99 percent while reducing pharmacist labor to check medications by 90 percent, according to its maker.
The federal government established incentives for healthcare providers that demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR systems. Many hospitals view pharmacy automation as an essential foundation to better position themselves for the ARRA funding. More information: www.mckesson.com.
