pharmacy TECHNOLOGY products

Thermal Printer SolutionSpeeds Up Rx Labels

QS/1 (Spartanburg, SC) has partneredwith Cognitive Solutions to offer clientsaffordable, efficient, and rugged thermalprinting solutions that complementQS/1?s Pharmacy Management software.The Cognitive C/Rx printer providesprint capability on up to 4-inch-widelabels at 300 dots per inch and at speedsranging from 6 to 8 inches per second.The C/Rx printer produces high-qualitycomposite graphics, 2-dimensional barcodes, and fine text. The printer alsooffers complete PCL5 compatibility foreasy integration with NRx, RxCare Plus,and PrimeCare QS/1 Pharmacy ManagementSystems. An added benefit ofthe printer is its small size. Thermal printingis very beneficial for printing prescription-bottle labels, warning labels, andbar-code labels. For more information,visit www.qs1.com.

FDA ApprovesComputerized Medication Box

INRange SystemsInc (Altoona,Pa) recently receivedFDA approvalfor its inhomeElectronicMedication ManagementAssistant(EMMA). Thedevice is a Web-enabled pharmacy thatgives pharmacists, nurses, physicians,and other licensed practitioners the abilityto schedule medications and alterindividual doses using a mouse. EMMAholds a month?s supply of up to 10 prescriptionsper EMMA unit. Multipledevices may be connected together toincrease the number of managed prescriptions.EMMA is wirelessly linked tosoftware that allows pharmacists toremotely schedule, monitor compliance,and make real-time adjustments in thedose or the timing of medications fromtheir office. When it is time for patients totake scheduled medications, EMMAautomatically provides both a visual andan audible alert. A touch screen is usedto dispense the correct prescriptionmedications into the built-in tray.Prescriptions and refills, packaged instandard-sized blister cards, can be sentautomatically to patients. The blistercards are loaded into EMMA, and it identifieseach medication by its bar code. Noinput is necessary from the patient, andno in-home visit is required. Based on theprogrammed schedule entered at thepharmacy or clinic, EMMA removes therequired number of individual dosesfrom the blister card and drops themonto the tray. A single electronic medication-administration record ensures thatmultiple caregivers can be alerted tochange a dose or medication. For moreinformation, visit www.inrangesystems.com.

Horizon MedComm-RxImproves Drug Safety, WorkFlow

McKesson Corp?s (San Francisco,Calif) Horizon MedComm-Rx automatedimaging transmission system isdesigned to eliminate lost orders andreduce the time pharmacists spendprocessing medication orders. In large,centralized order entry environments,the system has the flexibility to allowproblem orders to be returned to thesending unit, hospital, or clinical pharmacistfor clarification. The systemsupports >10,000 orders daily andhelps to improve pharmacist work flowby processing orders directly from theimage viewer and reducing the numberof operational steps. As hospitals beginto adopt computerized physician orderentry (CPOE) solutions, the system willprovide all CPOE and faxed drug ordersin a single pharmacist work queue.Nurses can scan or fax physicianorders directly into the pharmacy workqueue. Using bar-code recognition, thesystem automatically associates anincoming order with a patient profile.Pharmacists are able to view the orderimages and process them according topriority. The system?s integration withother McKesson solutions alerts pharmacistsany time a nurse overrides apatient?s profile to dispense medicationsso that the dispensing can berecorded in the pharmacy informationsystem. For more information, visitwww.mckesson.com.

B. Braun (Bethlehem,Pa) recently introduceda new suiteof infusion safetytools?the Outlook300 Safety InfusionSystemwith wireless capability,the DoseTracInfusion Management Software, and theDoseTrac Infusion Safety AnalysisService. The system helps ensure thatthe right patient receives the right medicationin the right dose from an authorizedclinician at the point of care. TheOutlook 300 Safety Infusion Systemimproves department efficiency by identifyingtrends in medication delivery useand accesses a real-time view of intravenous(IV) therapy progress for continuousmaintenance. The system also providesimmediate access to DoseGuarddose-limit data for continuous safetyimprovement, tracks medication deliverytrends to identify clinical support andtraining needs, and gives at-a-glancevisualization of vital information concerninga patient?s IV therapy. For more information,visit www.bbraunusa.com, orcall 800-854-6851.