The KLAS award for “Category Leader 2014” in the “Pharmacy Automation IV Robots” category was presented to Intelligent Hospital Systems (IH Systems) at the ASHP show in Anaheim on December 8, 2014. RIVA, the fully automated IV compounding system developed by IH Systems, earned the highest customer rankings in several areas including quality of implementation,... Read more
Categories: Announcements | BlogOver 20 pharmacists gathered at St. Barnabas Hospital in New York earlier this month to talk about improved patient safety with IV robotics. The gathering came on the heels of the University of Arizona study on cost avoidance from reducing IV preparation errors. News 12 was there to cover the story. They filmed a 2-minute... Read more
Categories: Announcements | BlogBy Craig A. Boyce, RPh Current IV compounding is still largely based on human manual processes and visual inspection, where the safety of a dose depends on the how well staff follow proper technique. This manual processing is complex and while pharmacies rely on visual inspections and checks during dose preparations, errors can still find... Read more
Categories: Announcements | BlogBy 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
Categories: Automation | Blog | SafetyBy Walter Eliuk, P.Eng. RIVA is a fully automated IV compounding system that produces IV bag and syringe medications in a Hospital pharmacy. The Port Disinfection Subsystem (PDS) is a powerful feature unique to RIVA. This feature helps to assure reliable aseptic processing of compounded products. A state-of-the-art UV light source is used to disinfect... Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | Engineering | SafetyBy Mitch Valdmanis, M.Eng. When a person sees RIVA operating for the first time, they see the robot dancing around the cell, shuttling items to-and-fro between subsystems; they watch as fluid is transferred between containers at one of the syringe manipulators; and they notice how the inventory carousels rotate around to present the correct inventory... Read more
Categories: Blog | EngineeringFor the second consecutive year, RIVA, the fully automated IV compounding system developed by Intelligent Hospital Systems (IH Systems), has been recognized as category leader in “Pharmacy automation: IV robots” by independent healthcare research firm KLAS. The top ranking was announced in its recent “2014 Best in KLAS: Medical Equipment & Infrastructure” report. RIVA’s overall... Read more
Categories: Announcements | BlogBy 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
Categories: Automation | Blog | Efficiency | ROI | SafetyBy 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
Categories: Automation | BlogBy Cornel Van Egmond MSEE, C.I.M. (Source: NASA) Implementing automation in the pharmacy can be a daunting task. There are many different options available and it can be difficult to determine the right choice for your pharmacy. In the end, automation should make your pharmacy more efficient and safer for your patients. Read more
Categories: Blog | Engineering