Supporting Overflow Care Areas with Rapid Response XT 

Mohammed Ghonim Pharm.D.
Vice President Pharmacy Operations,
PIH Health Downey Hospital

Rapid Response Cabinets – Q&A 

For what purpose did you purchase the new Rapid Response Cabinets? 

We established an ICU overflow area and needed to assure timely access to the required medications. Since we had future plans to purchase Omnicell medication cabinets, we felt that the machines could be re-purposed in the future. 

 In what treatment areas are you using your new cabinets? 

On-site outpatient surgery center converted to ICU overflow area.   

The Rapid Response Cabinets have standard configurations intended for quick setup and near-immediate use with limited training. Was this your experience?   

This worked out fine for us because of how we may be able to re-purpose these machines in the future.  Had the future re-purposing been in areas other than intended, this may have not worked out. 

What types of medications are you storing in the new cabinets? What types of PPE are you storing in your new cabinets? 

Primarily meds needed for COVID patients.  The new machines allow for a greater volumes of meds such as propofol. No PPEs or supplies are stored in our machines. 

Are you managing shortage drugs stored in cabinets any differently (e.g., reclassifying shortage drugs as controlled)? 

Not at this time. We saw this coming early and ordered up in late Feb, so we have not had any major issues thus far. Our MDs have been heavily engaged with Pharmacy and working closely with us to modify meds, dosing, etc., based on inventory, etc.  We are fortunate to have a great team of ICU MDs who have truly partnered with us. 

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