Driving Safety and Savings Through System-Wide Sterile Compounding Automation

David Webster
Director of Acute Care Pharmacy Operations, University of Rochester Medical Center

Sterile compounding is one of the most high risk, high cost areas of medication management. Manual compounding is fraught with error, studies indicating 1 in 10 IVs are not prepared according to guidelines. Exacerbating the problem are challenges with outsourced compounding facilities, including supply chain disruption and lack of quality.

As an early adopters of IV automation, we’ve seen first-hand how leveraging technology can improve sterile compounding processes as compared to manual preparation. That’s why I was excited to share our experiences, and the safety advantage of IV workflow and robotics in producing safe and cost effective IV preparations, during the Omnicell Illuminate 2020 session,  “Driving Safety and Savings Through System-Wide Sterile Compounding Automation.”

In this session, attendees learned how we are  leveraging IV Workflow Management Systems and IV robotics to create a safe and consistent supply of critical IV medications within our health system. We shared best practices and recommendations for other health systems who are starting their journey to implementing sterile compounding technology. Attendees will come away with a vision for:

• Driving factors for the adoption of IV automation
• Understanding key benefits associated with implementing these technologies
• Processes for planning and implementation

Producing sterile preparations with IV workflow and IV robotics has many advantages including increased safety, improved quality, and financial savings. IV compounding robot also ensures that the preparation process is the same every time, reducing opportunity for human error.

Simply put: IV automation and technology-enabled services are helping health systems to take greater control of their IV preparation supply.

Come back soon to access the replay of the session and discover the future of pharmacy at Omnicell Illuminate 2020 and explore our three-day slate of continuing education, networking, interactive demos, and more learning opportunities.

DISCLAIMER

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author(s). These views are always subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and may not be held in perpetuity.