Automation
Riverside Methodist Hospital, part of OhioHealth, plans to implement McKesson's CytoCare robot as part of an IV automation initiative, a move that will enable the 800-bed facility to meet the anticipated growth within its cancer services department without requiring additional staff.
With McKesson barcode-scanning technology for medications already in place in the pharmacy, Riverside will deploy CytoCare in an effort to introduce the same level of automation and barcoding to further improve the safety of oncology preparations. According to hospital leaders, the solution will enable pharmacy staff to more efficiently prepare IVs while reducing their exposure to hazardous drugs and the potential for manual compounding errors.
“Our pharmacy technicians prepare approximately 500 chemotherapy IVs each month for inpatients and our outpatient cancer facility, and a pharmacist checks each preparation,” says Charles McCluskey, PharmD, system vice president of pharmacy for the OhioHealth system. “With CytoCare, we can more efficiently prepare the IVs while reducing our technicians' exposure to hazardous drugs and reducing the potential for manual compounding errors.”
