DOSEEDGE

I started out my day at HIPPE walking around the pharmacy asking anyone if they needed any help.  After several minutes, I gave up and saw one of the technicians using a machine I had never seen before.  By looking over his shoulder, I saw he was taking pictures of vials and IV solution bags.  Once he saw that I was interested he started to explain what he was doing.

Several months ago HIPPE received a machine called DOSEEDGE (Pharmacy Workflow Manager).  This machine enables technicians to take pictures of IV room medications and have the pharmacist approve them through a computer system instead of manually checking each one.  The technician is required to scan the medication and then take a picture of both sides of the vial and IV solution bag so the pharmacist can see all of the information; such as doses, names, and expiration dates.  When the pharmacist sees an error or cannot view what the picture is, he can choose that individual medication to be sent back because it allows tractability because it stores electronic records and provides audits of what was done.

You may be thinking that his makes a pharmacist lazy because he/she would only have to see the medication on a computer instead of in person.  Yes this technology does allow the pharmacist to stay comfortable in their office, but this program has many benefits!  For instance, DOSEEDGE helps eliminates medication errors through integrated drug verification and by providing dose and dilution calculations.  Also, if there is a need for an IV medication approval that is needed really fast, a pharmacist can verify it from anywhere as long as he/she is connected to the intranet. 

Since this is a new machine at HIPPE, I had to ask the obvious question “have there been any problems with it?”  Although the technician did say yes, the problems he described seemed minuscule.  He reported problems such as picture imaging and generic malfunctions of the use of the machine itself (ex. freezing).  From what I have read about this program, it seems to be safe, cost effective, and an efficient addition to pharmacy informatics. 

DOSEEDGE:

STEP 1-Use the touch screen to prepare the dose and the label will print

STEP 2-Scan the product (it will alert you if it is wrong)

STEP 3-Scan the label and attach it to the product

STEP 4-Draw up each ingredient

STEP 5-Take a picture of the vial and syringe

STEP 6-Make sure the computer has a clear image

STEP 7-Inject the ingredients into the final dose

STEP 8-Take an image of the final dose and scan the label again to finish

Doseedge. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.baxa.com/doseedge/