Owensboro Health pharmacy innovations increase safety and reallocate scarce labor
Owensboro Health adopted the Central Pharmacy Dispensing Service to sidestep labor issues, up-level clinical programs, and realize faster time to value with the XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System optimized by a dedicated, on-site operator.
The Challenge
Owensboro Health Regional Hospital is a 444-bed hospital, and the largest hospital of Owensboro Health, which serves nearly 500,000 individuals over an 18-county area in Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
For many years, pharmacy delivered most patient medications to nursing alcoves located outside patient rooms to enhance nursing workflow.
Pharmacy automation supporting this model included a ROBOT-Rx central pharmacy robot for 24-hour cart fill, a carousel dedicated to patient first doses, and a second carousel to fill automated dispensing cabinets.
As the technology neared the end of life, pharmacy leaders evaluated multiple technology and process options. Must-haves included:
- Support for nursing’s preferred patient-specific distribution model
- Enhanced medication safety processes
- Scalable to allow for future growth
- Reduced burden on pharmacy staff
Owensboro Health Regional Hospital is a 444-bed hospital, and the largest hospital of Owensboro Health, which serves nearly 500,000 individuals over an 18-county area in Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
For many years, pharmacy delivered most patient medications to nursing alcoves located outside patient rooms to enhance nursing workflow.
Pharmacy automation supporting this model included a ROBOT-Rx central pharmacy robot for 24-hour cart fill, a carousel dedicated to patient first doses, and a second carousel to fill automated dispensing cabinets.
As the technology neared the end of life, pharmacy leaders evaluated multiple technology and process options. Must-haves included:
- Support for nursing’s preferred patient-specific distribution model
- Enhanced medication safety processes
- Scalable to allow for future growth
- Reduced burden on pharmacy staff
The Solution
Activated Solutions
Central Pharmacy Dispensing Service
XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System
Owensboro Health chose Omnicell’s Central Pharmacy Dispensing Service (CPDS), which includes:
- XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System
- Expertly trained on-site technician dedicated to efficient robot operations
- Best practices and benchmarking tools
- Change management expertise
- Ongoing optimization to maximize value
Activated Solutions
Central Pharmacy Dispensing Service
XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System
Owensboro Health chose Omnicell’s Central Pharmacy Dispensing Service (CPDS), which includes:
- XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System
- Expertly trained on-site technician dedicated to efficient robot operations
- Best practices and benchmarking tools
- Change management expertise
- Ongoing optimization to maximize value
More Automated Doses, Fewer Human Touches
In Owensboro Health’s model, the XR2 system automates medication storage and retrieval with 100% barcode scanning to increase medication safety, improve operational efficiency, and maximize inventory control. Two carousels complement filling operations and provide for ancillary and bulk storage.
The XR2 system leverages manufacturer barcodes, making unit-dose repackaging unnecessary, and supports more than 90% of non-IV and non-narcotic formulary in various package forms, including individual blisters and blister cards, vials, cups, packets, syringes, and others. Cabinet-specific medication picks are dispensed into clear, sealed, labeled bags.
The impact includes:
- Automating up to 95% of cart fill
- Automating up to 50% filling of XT automated dispensing cabinets
- Doubling the medication storage capacity, reducing manual picks by 50%
- Increasing inventory accuracy and reducing waste through advanced algorithms
- Reducing the cost and labor burden of bar-code repackaging significantly
In Owensboro Health’s model, the XR2 system automates medication storage and retrieval with 100% barcode scanning to increase medication safety, improve operational efficiency, and maximize inventory control. Two carousels complement filling operations and provide for ancillary and bulk storage.
The XR2 system leverages manufacturer barcodes, making unit-dose repackaging unnecessary, and supports more than 90% of non-IV and non-narcotic formulary in various package forms, including individual blisters and blister cards, vials, cups, packets, syringes, and others. Cabinet-specific medication picks are dispensed into clear, sealed, labeled bags.
The impact includes:
- Automating up to 95% of cart fill
- Automating up to 50% filling of XT automated dispensing cabinets
- Doubling the medication storage capacity, reducing manual picks by 50%
- Increasing inventory accuracy and reducing waste through advanced algorithms
- Reducing the cost and labor burden of bar-code repackaging significantly
Optimizing Pharmacy Resources
The comprehensive nature of the CPDS automation and resource combination has enabled pharmacy leaders to realize critical time savings and to reallocate scarce pharmacy labor.
The certified, onsite XR2 technician operates the XR2 system 40 hours per week, prepares reports, conducts tray analysis, and applies best practices to optimize robot performance and medication inventory. This singular focus of technology, technician, and process has resulted in:
- Reduced staffing on unit-dose repackaging by 90%
- Reduced pharmacist time checking manual picks
- Reallocated pharmacist time to patient-focus priorities
- Reallocated night shift technicians to other priorities, such as making IVs, dealing with code carts, and delivering medications to nursing units
The comprehensive nature of the CPDS automation and resource combination has enabled pharmacy leaders to realize critical time savings and to reallocate scarce pharmacy labor.
The certified, onsite XR2 technician operates the XR2 system 40 hours per week, prepares reports, conducts tray analysis, and applies best practices to optimize robot performance and medication inventory. This singular focus of technology, technician, and process has resulted in:
- Reduced staffing on unit-dose repackaging by 90%
- Reduced pharmacist time checking manual picks
- Reallocated pharmacist time to patient-focus priorities
- Reallocated night shift technicians to other priorities, such as making IVs, dealing with code carts, and delivering medications to nursing units
The Impact
Key Outcomes:
- Automated 95% of cart fill
- Doubled automated storage of medications
- Cut manual picks by more than 50%
- Reduced unit-dose repackaging by 90%
Customer Benefits:
- Enhanced medication safety (minimized human touches)
- Gained more time for patient care
- Accelerated technology adoption and time to value
"The XR2 robot has been great for our medication distribution model. We’re automating more doses and have cut manual picks by more than half. "
"Our onsite XR2 technician has been a major asset. She came in fully trained and ready to go, which helped us get comfortable right off the bat."
Jason Collins, Director of Inpatient Pharmacy Services
