Omnicell 11.0 features a ‘scheduled meds’ medication dispensing capability that the company says improves nursing workflow and enhances patient safety.
The list of patient medication orders due for administration is based on frequency and lead/lag times (early/late windows), per hospital policy and pre-defined ranges of time. The scheduled meds feature works with cabinets that have patient medication profiling.
In addition to providing the nurse with the list of due medications, any returned medication that is scheduled during that timeframe will reappear on the scheduled meds list for the nurse. The returned medication will remain on the due list through the pre-defined period of time.
As well as the new scheduled meds capability, Omnicell has introduced a number of enhanced features for its OmniRx systems, including a frequently updated library of ready-to-run reports through the OmniCenter system application, a SafetyStock bar code confirmation feature that can read 16-character medication bar codes generated for McKesson’s ROBOT-Rx without additional bar code association by the pharmacy.
Omnicell says that its equivalent dose and dose dispensing features for medication orders are both supported when medication order restrictions such as dose equals 0 (zero) and dose text is enabled are present. Certain pharmacy information systems have restrictions, and Omnicell software has been modified to meet these restrictions.
This enhancement to existing functionality allows clinicians to return medications by dose, reducing the number of unreconciled dose transactions, explained Richard Caldwell, Omnicell senior product manager for medication systems. Now, during the return process, the user has the ability to document the actual dose administered.
