Automation Archives

Intermountain Healthcare Improves Sterile Compounding Services with RIVA Systems

Posted on October 25, 2018

In the wake of market and regulatory changes several years ago, Intermountain Healthcare, one of the most respected health systems in the United States, identified an increased need for controlled sterile compounding preparations. This need was heightened by the New England Compounding Center tragedy, as it raised additional concerns about risk and lack of control... Read more

Measuring Patient Harm in Canadian Hospitals

Posted on December 15, 2016

By: Irene Wasilewski, Application Consultant Despite health professionals’ focus on safety, a small proportion of patients experience some type of unintended harm as a result of the care they receive. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) in conjunction with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) recently released a report using 2014/2015 data to measure... Read more

Pharmacists Should Care About Inventory Management

Posted on October 22, 2015

By: Beth Richter, Pharmacist Consultant In a health system, pharmacists are primarily focused on drug therapy decisions. Many hospitals have decentralized pharmacy staff that are on patient floors working directly with patients and other health care providers. While in the central pharmacy, pharmacists are busy deciphering and verifying physician orders, compounding medications and of course... Read more

The Big Little Things, Part III: Vial Pressure Management

Posted on August 13, 2015

By Mitch Valdmanis, Product Manager Continuing our series on the subtle, but important aspects of RIVA’s operation, I would like to turn our attention to the matter of managing gas pressure inside of drug vials as liquid and gas are drawn out or injected in. Vial stoppers are designed to seal the contents of the... Read more

Mitigating risk with pharmacy automation

Posted on October 14, 2014

By Niels Erik Hansen, Ph.D. Evidence shows the risk of patient injury from medication errors is substantial and costly – especially errors associated with injectable medications. A first-of-its-kind study published in American Health & Drug Benefits in 2012 uncovered some sobering facts: • Adverse drug events (ADEs) from injectable medications kill up to 7,000 patients... Read more

What are your goals, Standard of Care or ROI?

Posted on September 3, 2014

By Alex Reinhardt, P. Eng. I’ve had some recent discussions with potential customers that raised an interesting question: What is most important to your organization, making a high percentage of doses with IV automation, or, saving money? These are vastly different but both equally legitimate. Let’s look at each in a bit more detail. Read more

Improving Medication Safety Helps Control Costs

Posted on July 28, 2014

By Niels Erik Hansen, PhD If ongoing news reports of pharmacy product contaminations, recalls and patient injuries aren’t enough to prompt reforms to reduce errors in the compounding of IV medications, a study published late last year — which shows the significant cost burden hospitals bear from IV medication errors — should be. The report,... Read more

What are the Best Drugs to Automate?

Posted on July 17, 2014

By Alex Reinhardt, P. Eng. Inevitably, a discussion about what drugs to run with IV preparation automation will come up when a company is considering systems such as RIVA. There is no one right answer to this; it all depends on what the organization’s goals are. A couple of examples might best illustrate this. Read more

Pharmacy IV automation a mature, proven technology

Posted on July 14, 2014

By Niels Erik Hansen, Ph.D. As automation technologies enhance a growing number of hospital services – including imaging, surgery, radiotherapy and rehabilitation, among others – the hospital pharmacy remains largely un-automated. Despite its central role in patient care, technicians in most hospital pharmacies still compound medications manually, in much the same way it’s been done... Read more

Meeting the 24/7/365 Pharmacy Services Challenge

Posted on June 18, 2014

by Craig A. Boyce , RPh This recent post “Seven day working for pharmacy“ highlights the growing trend that we need to provide 24/7 comprehensive pharmacy services. While we can all agree in theory, the real question is how do we provide seamless services with the reality of today’s constrained budgets and staff resources? Read more