Top 10 Innovations: #4 | April 20th, 2009 | Author: admin

Note: This is the sixth post for my Top 10 List of the medical equipment innovations with the greatest impact on facility design. My criteria was simple: Did the innovation create a significant change in the cost (Increase or Decrease) to design and construct the facility? The greater the overall impact, the higher the item appears on the list . I’ve limited my review to the 20 year period from 1990 – 2009. Please let me know your thoughts. What equipment innovations would you have added to the list?

#4 Electronic Dispensing Systems

Supplies & medications have been migrating from lockers, carts and shelves to “Pyxis” units for 20 years. These automated inventory management systems introduced a new way to capture patient consumption. Rather than have a clinician grab something off the shelf and never document who it went to, these little wonders turned getting an aspirin or bandage into a regimented multi-step process. Certainly not the easiest of transitions for staff who were used to a “grab-it-and-go-mentality”.

But for those of us old enough to remember seeing $4 for an aspirin tablet on their hospital bill, the ability to capture usage data on the vast majority of supplies, consumable’s and disposables has also meant a much more efficient and fair billing policy.

Real-time visibility to stock levels, tighter controls, and targeted filling reports have also made the re-stocking and order-entry side of hospital operations much more efficient. The payback of these units is significant, but with leasing options, most CFO’s are able to justify the transition.

For the cost of pulling new electrical and data lines into almost every “storage” room in the hospital, these electronic dispensing systems capture #4 on my Top 10 list.

Tags: Automated, Meds, Pyxis, Supplies

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