It is estimated that about 100,000 patients die in American hospitals every year due to medical errors. Although Canadian statistics are not yet available, the number most often used in Canada is about 10% of that, or roughly 10,000 Canadians per year dying due to medical errors.
Two Canadian hospitals are breaking ground in robotics by bringing in the latest generation in hospital pharmacy technology, offered by McKesson Canada, which significantly reduces the opportunity for human error in medication dispensing and distribution. The Scarborough Hospital (TSH) in Ontario and the Centre Hospitalier Régional de Trois-Rivières (CHRTR) in Quebec, have just signed agreements which will enable the hospitals to automate medication dispensing with the latest in bar code technology. For Ontario and Quebec patients this means a significant increase in patient safety, for the hospitals' administration it means better cost management, increased productivity, and an answer to the shortage of available pharmacists.
"The robot is an incentive to attract young pharmacists," exclaimed Yvon Rousseau, Chief Pharmacist for the CHRTR. "A pharmacist would rather work in a hospital like this one, where they are likely to focus on patient counseling, rather than on medication dispensing and distribution, which is the norm in Canadian hospitals."
The CHRTR will be the first Quebec hospital to benefit from the combined implementation of the Robot-Rx and the MedCarousel, even putting them ahead of the teaching hospitals, while TSH has purchased the same components, as well as an application called Admin-Rx which allows care givers to verify the five areas in which bed-side medication errors can happen: right patient, right drug, right dose, right time, and right route of administration, and receive crucial discrepancy warnings prior to administration. This combination of hospital pharmacy automation solutions is revolutionary in that it allows 100% control and verification by bar code.
"As the first Canadian hospital to display a cutting-edge and fully integrated bar code based system, where electronic verification is used in all steps of medication dispensing, TSH reinforces its leadership as an urban community hospital that meets and advocates for the evolving health and wellness needs of the people it serves, and ensures a safe environment for patients and staff," said Rheta Fanizzi, Vice-President Clinical Diagnostic and Information Services, TSH.
"This is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate leadership in two increasingly important fields in the Canadian health care industry: patient safety, and cost management" stated Claudio Bussandri, President and Chief Executive Officer, McKesson Canada. "Our automation solutions are helping hospitals guarantee the five rights of medication administration, while simultaneously allowing hospitals to better manage the cost of their on-site pharmacies."
McKesson Corporation has been offering this technology since 1992, and has sold over 300 Robot-Rx units in North America, 6 of which will be located in Canada. These last two sales to TSH and CHRTR represent the very latest generation of hospital pharmacy robotics.