Somerset Hospital in Pennsylvania has joined with McKesson to automate its pharmacy using the new PROmanager-Rx™ system. The system will enable the 150-bed hospital to fully automate dispensing of tablets, capsules, and other oral solid medications that come directly from drug manufacturers in unit-dose, bar-coded form. Somerset, already a user of McKesson’s Paragon® community hospital information system, expects PROmanager-Rx to automate dispensing for approximately 80 percent of its daily scheduled patient doses.
“Our decision to implement PROmanager-Rx is the latest example of how we are using advanced technology to continue to drive innovative improvements in patient care”
“Our decision to implement PROmanager-Rx is the latest example of how we are using advanced technology to continue to drive innovative improvements in patient care,” said Craig Saylor, chief operating officer at Somerset. “PROmanager-Rx will enable us to increase medication dispensing accuracy, eliminate manual processes, and free our pharmacists to serve in expanded patient-centric roles.”
PROmanager-Rx is the only system to automate dispensing of manufacturer pre-packaged oral solid medications. Using bar-code-driven robotics, the solution scans every dose for the greatest possible safety and accuracy. Manufacturer packaging is widely recognized by professional associations as the safest type. With PROmanager-Rx, hospitals are able to significantly reduce on-site medication repackaging requirements, saving pharmacy labor and costs.
Michele Russic, director of pharmacy at Somerset, explained, “PROmanager-Rx is the right choice for us because it will automate approximately 80 percent of our daily cart fill, easily fits into our pharmacy layout, and is affordable. With PROmanager-Rx, we will be able to fill directly to the nurse servers, which is important to us. We want to keep the nurse in the room with the patient.”