AUTOMATED DISPENSING CABINETS

AUTOMATED DISPENSING CABINETSWhat are these?- are computerized point-of-use medication-management system that are designed to replace or support the traditional unit-dose drug delivery system.The rationales behind the wide acceptance of this technology are:

Improving pharmacy productivity Improving nursing productivity Reducing costs Improving charge capture Enhancing patient quality and safety

Some documented unsafe practices with the useof these devices are: Lack of pharmacy screening of medication order prior to administration Choosing the wrong medication from an alphabetic pick list High-alert medications, placed, stored and returned to ADCs Storage of medications with look-alike names and/or packagingSome issues to be considered to ensure safe medication practices: consider purchasing a system that allow for patient profilingso pharmacists can enter and screen drug orders prior to their removal and administered. carefully select the drugs that will be stocked in the cabinets.

place drugs that cannot be accessed w/o pharmacy order entry and screening in individual matrix bins.

use individual cabinets to separate pediatric and adult medications. periodically reassess the drugs stocked in each unit-based cabinets. remove only a single dose of the medication ordered. develop a check system to assure accurate stocking of the cabinets.

place allergy reminders for specific drugs, such as antibiotics, opiates, and NSAIDs on the cabinets.routinely run and analyze override reports to help track and identify problems.