| More than 250 | 3 | 100% |
|---|---|---|
| medication lines in the carousel | integrated systems | unit-dose coverage |
Figures reported by the hospital.
The hospital
King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU) is in Al Khobar, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, and is part of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University. It combines specialist care, teaching and research, and has about 550 beds.
The challenge
The hospital pharmacy wanted to use the carousel for patient-specific dispensing and extend automation to the medications its Omnicell system didn’t handle. To do that, the carousel had to fit the hospital’s prescribing and preparation workflow, reconcile two different ways of coding medications and send useful feedback on every dispense back to TrakCare.
The solution
We adapted the integration together with the pharmacy team, InterSystems (the maker of TrakCare) and Advanced Health Solutions, our local partner. The agreed workflow connects the prescription in TrakCare to preparation in the Athos™ Vertical Storage carousel and sends the dispense back to the hospital information system. Pharmacist validation is still part of the process. For items assigned to the carousel, the integration adds an alternative preparation route within the hospital’s existing workflow.
Three problems to solve
From generic medication to specific product
TrakCare prescribes with generic medication identifiers (VMP), but the carousel prepares specific products (AMPP). The codes in the existing interfaces also had to be read the same way every time. Working with pharmacy and InterSystems, we clarified the fields in each message and mapped those codes to the carousel catalog. The catalog became a functional requirement: if a product mapping is missing or out of date, the prescription can’t be resolved.
Closing the loop between prescription and preparation
The design distinguishes an approved prescription from a request carrying the quantity to prepare. An updated RDE replaces the earlier quantity in the carousel application. On the way back, the DFT keeps the original order identifier (ORC-2), so TrakCare updates the right order line. That message also carries the item, quantity, lot and expiration date, and with it the order moves to “Packed” in TrakCare and the stock is deducted.
Working alongside Omnicell
The carousel route had to coexist with the Omnicell interfaces already in place. We made changes so that no carousel message would be processed by the other system. Before go-live, the teams loaded the catalog, set up the carousel locations and checked what each message flow depended on. TrakCare coordinates both dispensing routes.
Results
According to the hospital, patient-specific dispensing is now live with more than 250 medication lines in a compact storage footprint. The hospital highlights a more efficient workflow and better support for patient safety, with the APD carousel complementing its existing dispensing system in the unit-dose area. The 100% coverage refers to that combined workflow.
Want to automate your hospital pharmacy without changing your information system? Let’s talk.
FAQ
What hospital information system does King Fahd Hospital use?
TrakCare, by InterSystems. The Athos™ Vertical Storage carousel receives patient data, prescriptions and the catalog from TrakCare, and sends back a confirmation of each dispense.
Can an APD carousel work alongside another manufacturer’s cabinets?
Yes. At KFHU it runs in parallel with the hospital’s Omnicell system. TrakCare coordinates both dispensing routes, and carousel messages are processed only by the carousel.
Which medications does the carousel prepare?
The ones the hospital has assigned to the carousel in the unit-dose area: more than 250 medication lines, according to the hospital, prepared for each patient from their prescription.
Can the same be done with another hospital information system?
At KFHU we adapted the software to TrakCare together with InterSystems. If your hospital uses another system, we study its messages and pharmacy workflow before proposing the integration.
Solutions in this article
Photos: King Fahd Hospital of the University
