Best Kept Secrets # 4: Holy COW!

What would you get if you put the following into a blender:

1. A "COW" - Computer On Wheels, that is small, light and maneuverable. 2. Portable laptop - with a large touch screen, full-size keyboard and scratch-pad that does double-duty as an HIS terminal. 3. Wireless bar-code wand nurses pick up to read patient ID bands, which then transmits to: 4. Pop-out drawers for that patient's drugs, right in the cart, that have been filled by a robot in the Pharmacy. Hit the blender button and, voila, you get the single slickest medical device I have seen in 40 years: the "SmartCart" manufactured by MDG Medical, a small firm in Ohio. I saw it in action at a 200-bed hospital in NY state last week where both RNs and patients loved it: high tech and high touch! I'm sure there are competitors as this technology should take off as the fastest slickest way to insure the 5 RX rights. Saves nurses walking back and forth to their Pyxis machines and HIS terminals, eliminates those un-used COWS sitting in halls with dead batteries, finger-pointing about who gave the wrong dose to the wrong patient, etc. Yes, there are some problems like some meds not getting in to the patients drawer before the cart is sent up to the floor (happens with Pyxis & Accudose devices too), some nurses wanting a full mouse (not just a scratch pad), etc. But overall, hot stuff more hospitals should adopt! Google this gem and see what I mean...