Medtimes Automated Dispensing Systems for Pharmacy Inventory Control
A Revolution in Long-Term Care Medication Delivery and Administration
MedTimes ® is a secure medication delivery system for long-term care patients. MedTimes increases the timeliness and accuracy of medication administration to patients. The state-of-the-art inventory control system reduces medication waste through the use of drug-specific medication packaging that virtually eliminates returns of unused oral solid medications.
System Overview:
- Computerized Medication Administration Record (cMAR) allows patient order entry by nursing or pharmacy, with pharmacist verification needed for nurse access to medications.
- Easy and intuitive touch-screen displays allow quick administration and charting, assisted by appropriate cMAR alerts and prompts.
- The cart contains both drug-specific and patient-specific punch card and bulk inventory required for a long-term care nursing unit of 20-25 patients.
- Each medication slot is electronically monitored to control medication access.
- Secure user log-in process assures cart security and user activity tracking.
- Bar codes are used on medication packaging to enhance accuracy in both the stocking and administration processes.
- All cart activity and medication transactions are monitored by the pharmacy through internet communications.
Key Features for Health Care Facilities:
- New medication orders can be administered without waiting for delivery, potentially improving patient outcomes.
- Medication administration accuracy is enhanced with pick-to-light slots and bar-coded medication packaging.
- Alerts and prompts help nurses deliver the right medications at the right time and completely chart all administration activity.
- Prescription verification by the pharmacy is required before nurses can access medication for patients.
- Electronic recordkeeping eliminates the need for nurses to turn over monthly paper MARs, resulting in significantly less paperwork.
- Payor is only charged for medication consumption, greatly reducing labor and costs associated with unused patient-specific medications
Color-coding alerts nursing to patients’ needs for observation, charting or administration
Key Features for Pharmacies:
- Monthly MAR printing is avoided with MedTimes, saving labor and printing costs.
- The pharmacist can provide nurses with immediate access for the majority of prescribed medications, enhancing service levels, patient out comes and customer satisfaction.
- MedTimes integrates with the Pharmacy Information System through a 2-way custom interface.
- The system can manage the inventory of bulk medications stored in the MedTimes cart bottom drawer and can also manage inventory located in external storage areas such as refrigerators and IV cabinets.
- Drug-specific inventories allow pharmacies to reduce required inventory on-hand.
- MedTimes system monitoring facilitates compliance with DEA guidelines, minimizing opportunity for controlled medication misuse and waste.
- Pharmacy can set custom cart inventory par levels based on historical or forecasted patient medication usage.
- Higher security and accountability for all medications delivered to facilities.
- Potential to eliminate the need for emergency kits.
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