RxInformatics.com

One of the best pharmacy jobs I ever had was working for a small compounding pharmacy in the Bay Area of California. Many of the prescription items compounded in this particular pharmacy had to be flavored based on the needs of the patient; sometimes animal, sometimes human. Regardless, the art of flavoring was always a challenge but also a lot of fun. I learned quite a bit about how to mask bitterness, how to use various sweeteners to get the flavor just right and how to use various flavor combinations to create some pretty tasty medications; it's an art. And don't underestimate the amount of science that goes into creating flavors like these or the science behind using those flavors to mask unpleasant tastes. It takes time, energy and patience.

FLAVORx, a company in Columbia, MD has taken a lot of the experimentation out of the flavoring equation by creating a system for dealing with “yucky medicine”.

This week's Cool Technology for Pharmacy is the OnDemand 400 for RxMap from MTS, a company that specializes in adherence packaging systems.

According to the MTS website:

OnDemand ® 400 for RxMap ® is the first pharmacy automation equipment system designed specifically for multi-med adherence packaging.

This efficient system uses OnDemand technology to dispense multiple medications for a single patient quickly and accurately and in a fraction of the time it would take to do it manually. This pharmacy automation equipment system utilizes a custom interface to work with your existing information systems, enabling automated workflow management in the pharmacy. This single data input process reduces input time and the possibility of data entry errors. OnDemand ® 400 for RxMap ® uses bar-code technology to accurately dispense multiple medications into one compartment - as many or as few as needed. RxMap ® Adherence Packs vary in size and shape to meet the needs of the customers you serve. The finished product is a patient - specific adherence package filled “just-in-time” for your customer.

Bar code medication administration (BCMA) is nothing new, but remains a hot topic in healthcare nonetheless. Another topic that has generated significant interest in healthcare over the past couple of years is the use of smart pumps, which I have posted on before. Unfortunately for most hospitals the two remain independent of one another with no appreciable integration. The integration of smart pumps with BCMA was one topic of discussion at this years ASHP midyear. I attended a couple of presentations from healthcare systems that had successfully integrated information from their pharmacy information system (PhIS) directly into their smart pumps for use with their BCMA system. Like many other ideas presented at large conferences, the situation is the exception rather than the rule.

The ValiMed Medication Validation System by CDEX, Inc.

According to the ValiMed website:

CDEX’s technology stands alone, able to precisely identify medications in real time with its patented Enhanced Photoemission Spectroscopy technology.

Energy at a preset wavelength interrogates the selected substance, capturing a unique emission spectrum which is then compared to the propriety signature, resulting in a simple “VALIDATED” reading when matched.

Each medication reveals its own distinct and easily readable signature. By comparing the fingerprint of a tested medication against the signature for that medication in our data library, the ValiMed technology is able to verify a match, presuming there is one.

The ValiMed Medication and Narcotic Validation System offers superior value to hospital medication safety programs and quality control processes by:

- Providing immediate, real-time validation of the substance itself.

- Providing an opportunity to standardize and optimize internal medication safety processes including Training, QA and Regulatory Compliance.

- Providing a real-time means of validating narcotic returns and mitigating narcotic diversion.

- Providing pharmacy staff and clinicians with a simple, fast, straightforward and cost-effective way to ensure that the RIGHT drug in the RIGHT dose is administered to the patient.

Biometric scanning is an interesting notion. It's nothing new and I’ve blogged about the possible uses of speech recognition and facial recognition in the past. Many facilities utilize basic forms of biometric identification, such as fingerprint scanning, as a deterrent on devices like automated dispensing cabinets, i.e. Pyxis. While fingerprint identification is certainly a nice security feature, it can also be a royal pain at times. Well, Fujitsu has taken fingerprint scanning to a whole new level.

The Fujitsu PalmSecure is a palm vein authentication system that takes a snapshot of the veins in your hand as your hand hovers above the scanner. Apparently the vein pattern in an individual’s hand is unique, giving the device the ability to identify the person. It is quick, painless, accurate, and appears to be much easier than finger print scanning.

This weeks cool technology comes by way of a comment left at RxInformatics.com in response to a recent post I wrote on smartphones and pharmacy practice.

The author of the comment, @pillguy, is an iPhone fanboy and pharmacy technology guru.

@pillguy: “The iPhone certainly has some promising applications related to EHRs. Airstrip is one of the coolest I have seen.

The smartphone takes PDAs to the next level with access to realtime information. I can see a TheraDoc, Pharmacy OneSource, or Zynx type clinical monitoring/alerting app fit in with the Airstrip suite nicely.”

Installing and using Citrix Receiver on your iPhone/iPod Touch

While at ASHP Midyear a colleague and friend of mine, @pillguy, was able to pull up the pharmacy system at his hospital using Citrix on his iPhone. At that moment I was attacked by a green monster and nearly consumed with envy. I can not yet match this feat of superiority with my Droid, but I'm hopeful.

Citrix Receiver is a free download from Citrix Systems, Inc. available at the iTunes store. To use Citrix Receiver simply go to the iTunes store, download it and follow the onscreen instructions. Below are some screen shots using Citrix Receiver to access applications at my facility.