Insourcing IV preparation ensures quality, cost savings
Huntsville Hospital, a 941-bed facility serving northern Alabama and southern Tennesee, looked to IV automation to drive a consistent, reliable process to support patient safety and to lower medication costs.
The Challenge
The pharmacy operates two inpatient sterile compounding areas, as well as an outpatient oncology pharmacy. As a St. Jude affiliate location, the pharmacy also is responsible for preparing chemotherapy for pediatric patients.
The hospital decided to assume control over sterile compounding by bringing the process in-house through robotic automation for IV dose preparation. The primary motivations were to establish control over the quality and quantity of products produced, improve operational efficiency, create cost savings, and most importantly, ensure confidence in the safety of the products we provide to patients.
The pharmacy operates two inpatient sterile compounding areas, as well as an outpatient oncology pharmacy. As a St. Jude affiliate location, the pharmacy also is responsible for preparing chemotherapy for pediatric patients.
The hospital decided to assume control over sterile compounding by bringing the process in-house through robotic automation for IV dose preparation. The primary motivations were to establish control over the quality and quantity of products produced, improve operational efficiency, create cost savings, and most importantly, ensure confidence in the safety of the products we provide to patients.
The Solution
Activated Omnicell Product(s)
The hospital implemented two IV compounding robot in two phases.
To ensure a smooth transition, Huntsville adapted many of its in-house manual compounding policies for the robotic compounding process, such as external lab testing, training and cleaning guidelines.
Taking Control
IV compounds are often high cost and high risk. Having increased control of sterile compounding is enabling Huntsville to provide optimal care to their patients while lowering costs.
Another benefit of in-house production: Your pharmacy may provide compounding services to partner facilities, potentially adding a new revenue source for your facility.
The Impact
Key Outcomes:
- Increased patient safety
- Reduced IV medication costs
- Improved operational efficiency
Customer Benefits:
- Realized ROI
- Control over the quality and quantity of IV dose preparation
- Extended BUD (beyond use dating) for IV products
- Ensure confidence in safety
- Lowered costs of sterility testing
"Omnicell’s i.v.STATION not only met Huntsville’s safety and efficiency needs, but the lower cost and smaller size of the robot offered more flexibility in configuring the clean room."
Berkley Sykes, PharmD, Pharmacy Manager for Sterile Product Services
