Most large and mid-sized hospitals already have medication automation technology, such as automated dispensing cabinets. ADCs are computerized devices that store medications safely on a unit where nurses can access it often through a password or biometric such as a fingerprint. The technology is so widespread because of all that it does for efficiency and safety in the hospital setting.
Having ADCs on the unit can boost nurse productivity, according to Barbara Diehl, director of nursing quality, practice and Magnet at Billings (Mont.) Clinic. "The medication is there on the unit. Nurses don't have to wait on a manual process for someone to deliver it," meaning they will have more time with patients and get medication to them in a timely manner.
Though automated medication dispensing cabinets already help hospitals boost patient safety as well as patient and nurse satisfaction, Billings Clinic is working on making the cabinets even more efficient. "What we're working on now is to take the machine to the next level," says Jeff Ferber, PharmD, inpatient manager of pharmacy services at Billings Clinic.
Next step
For Billings Clinic, that "next level" is integrating the ADCs with the hospital's electronic health record system. That way, nurses can key in the medications they need while at the bedside using the EHR, and then pick up the medicine from the dispensing cabinet later.
ADCs and EHRs are usually separate technologies, and not many hospitals have the two integrated. At Billings Clinic, the hospital's EHR is through Cerner and its ADCs are from Omnicell — and it is the first hospital to integrate Omnicell ADCs and Cerner EHR.
"It's a great opportunity to be a leader in the nation to do this and help our nurses become more efficient and increase safety," Dr. Ferber says.
One large advantage of achieving interoperability between the ADC and the EHR system is improved patient safety through the reduced likelihood of human error. For instance, some medication is dependent on lab results. "If a nurse was to misread the lab, she'd have to go to the cabinet and it doesn't give an indication of if the medication is appropriate," says Dr. Ferber. When the dispensing cabinet is integrated with the EHR, however, that problem would be eliminated: Since the nurse would order the medication through the EHR, lab results would be there at the point of contact and the issue would be avoided.
And recent analysis from the West Health Institute proves that point. The analysis found that improving interoperability between medical devices and EMRs can help save hospitals more than $30 billion a year through increased clinician productivity and the reductions of adverse events.
Achieving interoperability is also expected to improve nurse satisfaction. Nurses can check a patient's medication profile, see if the new medication is available and dispense it "without ever leaving the patient's side," says Ms. Diehl. "It makes me feel good, as a nurse, like we're being responsive to patients," she says. "The more we can allow the technology to talk to one another, the happier [the nurses] are going to be."
Right now, Billings Clinic is rolling out the interoperable technology in selected units with plans to widen the implementation in the near future.