pharmacy TECHNOLOGY products

Alaris PC

Cardinal HealthInc's (Dublin, Ohio)The Alaris PC unitprovides wirelessconnectivity rightout of the box andmakes it easier forhospitals to increaseintravenousmedication safety and continuouslyimprove clinical best practices—regardless of the existing wirelessinfrastructure. The new Alaris PC unithas been enhanced to help hospitalsmake the most of today's hardwareand software features. The productfeatures vivid color display, integratedwireless connectivity, high-speed processingpower, and 16 times morememory. The unit also runs on a newoperating system specifically designedto meet the intense demands of wirelessenvironments. The Alaris PC unitoffers an integrated modular platformwith the ability to include infusion therapyand patient monitoring for improvedpatient safety at the bedside.The unique design of this platformmakes it easy to incorporate the additionalsafety and efficiency benefits ofbar coding for patient, clinician, anddrug recognition at the point of care.For more information, call 800-482-4822, or visit www.cardinalhealth.com/alaris.

SafetyStock

Omnicell Inc's (Mountain View, Calif)SafetyStock software, integrated withOmniRx medication-dispensing cabinets,uses automated cabinet-basedbar-code scanning as a secondarychecking methodology when medicationitems are placed into and, moreimportantly, when medication itemsare removed from OmniRx systems.Using this feature, the cabinet willwarn the users (pharmacy or nursing)anytime they attempt to stock orremove an incorrect item from theautomated cabinet. With SafetyStock,the bar-code checking process hasbeen extended to include the medicationitem's package bar code (PBC), thebar code on the individual unit-doseitem. The process can be configured in2 ways: (1) allowing either the restocklabel bar code (RLBC) or the medicationitem PBC for bar-code checking, or (2)only allowing the medication item PBCfor bar-code checking. In this mode, ifthe user tries to scan the RLBC, it willnot be a valid scan and the user will berequired to scan the item PBC.SafetyStock is part of Omnicell'sMedGuard suite of end-to-end solutionsfor bar-code verification, fromstocking in the hospital's central pharmacyto administration at the patient'sbedside. For more information, visitwww.omnicell.com, or call 800-850-6664.

Thermal Bar CodedWristband Print Solutions

Zebra Technologies International's(Vernon Hills, Ill) Thermal BarCoded Wristband Print Solutions allowstaff to accurately identify patientsthroughout their hospital stay. Thewristbands serve as a foundation forpreventing errors by enabling immediateautomated access to criticalpatient information at the point of care.The bar-coded wristbands also canimprove patient safety simply by havingnurses and aides scan the Zebrabar codes on their identificationbadges, the patients' wristbands, andthe unit-dose labels to check the "5Rights" before dispensing medications.The thermal bar-code printers canencode patient data as a bar code andtext, helping improve patient safetythrough automated access to patientinformation. The printers also easilyintegrate with the facility's health informationtechnology systems and aresmall enough to fit on a cart, countertop,or desktop. For more information,visit www.zebra.com, or call 800-423-0442.

UHF Pharmacy Solution

Vue Technology (Lake Forest, Calif)recently launched the UHF PharmacySolution for seamless inventory trackingwithin the retail pharmacy. Basedupon the TrueVUE RFID (radio frequencyidentification) Platform, the solutiondelivers item-level visibility and multiplebenefits to the pharmacy, includingexpiration notification, confirmation ofreceived inventory, automated orderingnotification, automated recall management,support of electronic pedigreeand counterfeit diversion detection,and instant product lookup. TheUHF Pharmacy Solution enables retailpharmacies to easily initiate item-leveldeployment, from dock doors and portalsto mobile and smart shelving solutions.This increases benefits across anumber of areas: increasing inventoryturns, reducing loss due to expiredproduct, increasing order fill rates,automating inventory ordering andrecall processing, and minimizinginventory overstocks. For more information,visit www.vuetechnology.com,or call 800-580-5957.