Technology

While technology solutions to help flag potential drug-drug interaction problems have been around for years, they are becoming increasingly powerful and refined. One such resource developed by NeoFax tackles the problem by focusing on two specific areas where many errors take place: neonatal drug dosing and parenteral nutritional ordering. The NeoFax WebApp is a browser-based software application that provides up-to-date information as well as customizable tools.

Advances in telehealth could enable senior citizens to remain living independently longer without the need for full-time care. That was one of the primary messages presented at Partners Telemedicine's Connected Health-Empowering Care Through Communication Technologies, a two-day symposium held recently at Harvard Medical School in Boston. An innovative role for the pharmacist was highlighted in one presentation as a key component to making this connection between technology and quality health care.

Notwithstanding its concerns about the safety of Alaris SE infusion pumps, the Food & Drug Administration is not requiring manufacturer Cardinal Health to recall the 140,000 pumps in use in thousands of hospitals around the country.

Tracking and locating lost medications is a chronic problem for many hospitals. When a medication gets lost, there are so many different places it can be, including the several different drop-off points along the way before a drug reaches a patient.

More than 8,000 prescriptions electronically filed in the eRx Collaborative system were changed this June as a result of drug-drug or drug-allergy alerts. The eRx Collaborative initiative is a consortium created by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts Health Plan, and Neighborhood Health Plan to spur e-prescribing in the state. It includes 3,400 prescribers. The 8,000 prescriptions represented 2% of the approximately 400,000 total electronic Rxs filed in June. In fact, as a recent study from the Medical Records Institute noted, avoiding drug allergy was the prime use for e-prescribing, followed closely by access to drug reference information.

Intelligent Hospital Systems plans to release within a year-into two North American hospitals-a machine capable of filling intravenous bags and syringes. The Canadian medical device company said final testing of its Robotic IV Automation System (RIVA) was scheduled to begin in August. If testing goes as planned, the system will be ready for use at Winnipeg's St. Boniface General Hospital in early November.

Although computerized physician order entry (CPOE) offers the potential to save lives and reduce medical costs, it hasn't yet garnered widespread acceptance. According to the results of a questionnaire administered in a study by Harvey Murff, M.D., of Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and Joseph Kannry, M.D., of Mount Sinai-NYU Health Systems in New York, published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, one of the biggest obstacles to acceptance is the difficulty of executing tasks "in a straightforward manner." Physicians find it takes longer to type prescriptions into the system than it does to write prescriptions on a pad in the traditional way.

Intelligent Hospital Systems plans to release within a year-into two North American hospitals-a machine capable of filling intravenous bags and syringes. The Canadian medical device company said final testing of its Robotic IV Automation System (RIVA) was scheduled to begin in August. If testing goes as planned, the system will be ready for use at Winnipeg's St. Boniface General Hospital in early November.

While electronic prescriptions offer many benefits over handwritten orders, some independent pharmacies still balk at adopting this new technology. Some say learning the new technology will pose an obstacle, while others are concerned about verification of who is sending the electronic Rx, as well as the additional costs associated with e-prescribing.

As more and more companies develop systems for electronic prescription systems, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, N.Y.) recently called for national legislation to develop a uniform national e-prescription standard. The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association applauded the effort, noting that the standard is long overdue.

MD Scientific LLC has received approval from the Food & Drug Administration to market a computer software program that calculates insulin dosages for critically ill patients. Company officials predict the technology will help reduce the workload of hospital pharmacists.

The Department of Health & Human Services published final rules on Aug. 8 to allow health systems, health plans, drug plans, and others to give pharmacists, physicians, and other providers items and services related to e-prescribing and the electronic health record (EHR), without fear of running afoul of federal fraud laws. The rules are designed to drive more physicians to prescribe electronically.

Many people talk to their television, but how often does the television talk back? Now for patients and pharmacists at two Columbus, Ohio, Walgreens pharmacies, the television is talking back, helping provide essential interpretation services when prescriptions are filled.

In a development that could significantly impact pharmacists, the first 20 certifications for ambulatory electronic health records (EHRs) were announced July 18, in Washington, D.C., with much praise from the secretary of Health & Human Services, whose department contracted for the certification process.

The Department of Health & Human Services approved foundation standards for electronic prescribing in January and is pushing hard for widespread adoption of e-prescribing. But across the Potomac River from HHS' downtown Washington headquarters, the Drug Enforcement Administration has serious fears about controlled substances being e-prescribed. It has indicated, for example, that further security measures may need to be in place before controlled-substance e-prescribing is allowed to go forward.

The exhibit floor at the ASHP summer meeting in Orlando was sizzling with the latest wares on display for hospital pharmacy in categories ranging from automation solutions to dispensing equipment, computer hardware and software, drug administration devices, packaging equipment, and pharmacy management services.

In August 2005, Woodland Heights Medical Center (Lufkin, Texas) pharmacy technician Fred Poage, CPhT, was taking a computer programming course while pursuing a mathematics degree at nearby Stephen F. Austin State University. Staff pharmacist Eddie Purifoy, R.Ph., challenged Poage to put the course to good use. "Why don't you do something really useful-tackle this Xigris problem?"

Emerlyn Technology has introduced OneScan, a handheld universal bar-code scanner that simplifies drug product ordering for pharmacists. Used with Emerlyn's SureCost global pharmacy e-procurement system, OneScan can reduce product cost up to 3% by maximizing vendor agreements and contracts in a real-time environment.

Is technician training pharmacy's next divisive battle? It could be, if major retail employers and state pharmacy boards hold to their present courses.

Electronic prescribing has become a mystery. About 15% of physicians insist that they have moved to e-prescribing and are sending scripts directly to the pharmacy. Pharmacists wonder what all the fuss is about because they aren't seeing any change on the receiving end.

The integration of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) technology with devices that continuously monitor oxygen saturation (SpO2) and end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) significantly improves patient safety, according to innovators of the integrated safety platform.

Electronic prescribing has become a mystery. About 15% of physicians insist that they have moved to e-prescribing and are sending scripts directly to the pharmacy. Pharmacists wonder what all the fuss is about because they aren't seeing any change on the receiving end.

Beginning next year, technicians won't need #2 pencils when they sit for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) exam. Instead, they will be taking the exam in a computer-based format. The change will give techs easier access to the exam, which will be conducted at sites administered by the yet-to-be-named vendor that won the PTCB contract. Test results will also come back more quickly, said PTCB executive director/CEO Melissa Corrigan, R.Ph.

Figuring Medicare Part D was going to boost his retail script count, Wayne Miller installed a dispensing robot in his pharmacy last December. A month later, he realized that the unit nicknamed Manuel had actually cut days off the time it took technicians to prepackage drugs for long-term care and home care patients.

Competition has finally come to closed-system drug transfer devices for hazardous drug products. Cardinal Health received clearance from the Food & Drug Administration to market Texium, a closed male luer that mates with the company's SmartSite needle-free products. Cardinal's new product is the first U.S. competitor to Carmel Pharma's PhaSeal system, introduced in the 1990s.

Large thefts of electronic patient records have occurred recently in several health systems. How secure are pharmacy patient data and does the responsibility for guarding those data extend beyond the IT department?

Emerlyn Technology has released SureCost, real-time purchasingsoftware that helps pharmacies optimize drug product selection andanalysis of vendor offers, according to the North Conway, N.H.,firm founded by a second-generation pharmacist. SureCost evaluatesinformation and selects and orders the optimal product based ondynamic volume and pricing data using the pharmacy's parameters. Italso evaluates rebates, contract pricing, market share, cost, andMedicaid coverage. For more information, click on www.surecost.com,phone 1-(888) 363-7596, or e-mail info@emerlyn.com.

The Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) does not require pharmacies to participate in the electronic prescribing that is mandatory for Part D drug plans. But that doesn't mean plans can't make e-prescribing a provision in their pharmacy network contracts, warned a federal government pharmacist.

Pandora Data Systems recently released a multi-user, HealthInsurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliantversion of its medication usage analysis software. Designed in 1989in partnership with a local pharmacist to be used in conjunctionwith his Pyxis 1000 automated dispensing system (ADS), the currentversion of Pandora is compatible with the Pyxis 3000 and theMcKesson AcuDose and Omnicell dispensing systems as well.

For many years, doses and rates of administration for continuousinfusions in pediatric patients have been based upon the "rule ofsix." This weight-based method relies on the following formula: sixtimes body weight is the amount of drug to be added to 100 ml ofcarrier fluid.