Tag: medical supply dispenser

How Does Real Time Inventory Management Help In Pharmaceutical Dispensing

Posted on by John Van Horn

IDSVending - Blog Banner

This post is for all organizations and stakeholders that deal with medical services and medicine inventory. IDS has end-to-end medical supplies storage and management solutions for emergency response teams, hospitals, universities, and more. Please check out what our customers have to say here.

The factors that impact medical supplies dispensing are related to the following stakeholders,

  1. Medical service providers: from first responders to medical professionals on the roster, medical supplies must be accessible quickly and only to the appropriate professional. 
  2. Service users and consumers: the supplies need to be available in pristine condition to the end-user.
  3. Organizations and institutions: entities that deploy storage and management dispensing solutions need help with their expense optimization.

Points To Watch Out For In A Medical Supply Dispensing Solution

The principal objective of a pharmaceutical dispensing solution is ensuring optimum access to medicine and medical resources while eliminating wastage and thereby optimizing procurement. The following aspects are critical in ensuring a successful pharmaceutical inventory management solution:

  1. Technology and features: there are numerous methods for tracking the supply’s flow and status. From embedded sensors to cellular internet, stakeholders need to choose the appropriate machine that ticks all the boxes.
  2. Storage and procurement: medical resources come with a host of regulatory compliances to meet, and they differ based on the governmental agency or entity. The ideal solution needs to be flexible enough to factor in multiple considerations while assisting strict compliance.
  3. Operations and reporting: in medical resources dispensing a penny saved is a penny better spent in saving more lives. The ideal dispensing solution needs to be equipped to reduce wastage and procurement expenses.
  4. Maintenance: Medical domain needs tried and tested solutions that are reliable over long periods.

Technology & Features: 

  1. 3rd Party Tool Integration: Inventory management data helps departments like admin, HR, finance, operations, etc. IDS’s solution integrates with a wide range of 3rd party systems and software.
  2. Credentials Based Access: Credentials capture improves accountability and resource utilization. IDS solutions offer a host of credential vetting tools like magnetic cards, mobile-based barcode scanners, etc, including biometrics-based access. Biometrics are more difficult to manipulate and can be carried over from the previous machines.
  3. Stakeholder Communication:  IDS UCapIt helps automate transactional and usage-based communication based on pre-determined and ad-hoc triggers to the appropriate stakeholders.

B. Storage & Procurement: 

  1. Supply Room: Multiple statutory regulations and compliance requirements must be met when storing and dispensing pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. With IDS dispensing solutions, the entire supply room is accessible at the click of a button. This is especially beneficial for audits, risk reduction, and product expiration management.
  2. Custom Notifications/Alerts For Critical Resources: Some SKUs need more attention than others. These could be anything from scrubs to controlled medication. IDS  solutions come equipped with full data tracking and insights capture capabilities to design custom alerts through notifications and actions like procurement requests.

C. Operations & Reporting

  1. Automated Returns Management: returns are a pain, and the ideal dispensing solution would make it pain-free. Like how the Virtual Tracker updates stock levels after returns. 
  2. Improved Inventory Workflows: Efficiency is all about the workflows that determine how the inventory flows. UCapIt’s simple and effective workflows optimize how inventory is distributed and made accessible. 
  3. Scheduled Maintenance of Dispensed Assets & Resources: Our solutions help in improving asset life and quality by helping in their timely recalibration, repairs, or maintenance during check-in.
  4. Enhanced Auditing: Reconciling stock records to actuals is a breeze with Virtual Tracker. Our easy-to-use interfaces, including mobile-based bar code scanners, ensure stocks = actuals.
  5. Lot Tracking: supply tracking from procurement to dispensing and future procurements. Chain of custody

D. Maintenance

  1. Optimizing Efficiency: Solutions need to be monitored and maintained to ensure they are able to give full value for their investment. Using iQ Technology helps understand how the deployed solution is working for you. 
  2. Optimizing Efficiency: Solutions need to be monitored and maintained to ensure they are able to give full value for their investment. Using iQ Technology helps understand how the deployed solution is working for you. 

The Benefits Of Using A Single-Source Inventory Management Solution

In addition to the points covered above, IDS’s single-source all-in-one solutions pack great adaptability. For instance, we pack the following,

  1. Custom Checklist: The ability to build digital checklists for anything. Could be workflows, notifications, or inventory tracking. 
  2. API / Pre-Authorization: The backend of the software is secure but comes with the ability to connect with other business processes. Ensuring inventory which is a critical aspect of the organization does not end up being a silo.
  3. Customizable Locker Dispensing: Our physical lockers and hardware themselves are versatile. Customizable as single, standalone machines or satellites connected to a dispenser or smart locker.

With iQ Technology, you get all the features, values, and benefits of an ideal dispensing solution for your medical service delivery requirements. A snapshot of what our solutions are capable of includes, single and multiple item dispense, asset and resource check-in/check-out, returns management, custom rule setting workflows like loan periods, self-service automated order pick-up/will-call, etc., and much more under a single login for a unified view on supply requests.

Click here to know more about how and what iQ Technology could do for your pharmaceutical real-time inventory management and storage.

The Importance of Medical Supply Vending Machines in Fire Stations

Posted on by John Van Horn

When you’re a fire fighter, the costs associated with saving lives should never be your top priority. Despite that, ballooning costs are one of the primary challenges that fire stations face all around the country on a daily basis. Luckily, the tides are turning in favor of us all as medical vending machines are being looked at as a way to not only make all of the life-saving equipment necessary to do their jobs readily available at all times, but also to help curb rising costs at the exact same time.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

One example of a situation where medical supply vending machines are having a positive impact comes from Tulsa, Oklahoma, which has already begun the process of rolling out at least one EMS supply vending machine to several fire stations in the area. Fire department officials predict that this one bold move can help save between 30 and 40 percent from traditional medical supply costs for a number of interesting reasons.

For starters, all of the medical vending machines in the Tulsa area will be linked to one another via an active Internet connection. This allows coordinators and other team leaders to get a deeper sense of the products that they have on hand, how they’re being used and which items need to be readily available at a moment’s notice based on the type of real-time, actionable information that only analytics can provide. Even if an incident occurs in the middle of the night, firefighters will have instant access to any critical piece of equipment that they need.

This move is designed to not only save firefighters time, but also to help save taxpayers in the area money as well.

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions

IDS is one of the leading providers of EMT, EMS and general medical Supply Vending machines worldwide. As a company founded on the idea that traditional challenges faced by healthcare professionals can be solved with innovative solutions, the company works hard with fire stations, hospitals and similar types of facilities to address all of their needs in the most forward-thinking ways possible.

IDS’ medical vending machines are designed to empower professionals to not only keep all of the medical supplies and other products needed on hand, but also to help maintain a greater level of control over their inventory and a greater level of security over the supplies themselves at the exact same time.

These are just a few of the reasons why EMS supply vending machine options are playing such an important role in fire stations and other facilities all over the world. As technology continues to advance and companies like IDS continue to push the envelope in terms of things like security and control, it is truly exciting to think about the form that medical supply lockers and similar solutions will take in just a few short years time.

EMS Supply Vending Machines | Equipment That Saves Lives

Posted on by John Van Horn

Running out of a crucial piece of life-saving equipment is not something EMS teams should have to deal with, unfortunately, it is a reality that many faces all too often.

In the past few years, the Food and Drug Administration passed a law that stated that hospitals were end-users of medical equipment and medication, rather than distributors for EMS crews. This meant that after dropping off a patient for care, the crews could no longer restock their vehicles if needed.

In addition to the reduction in the manufacturing of certain drugs and medical products that don’t bring in a hefty profit from manufacturers, many EMS crews are finding it more and more difficult to get the supplies they need to save lives.

An Innovative New Approach to Stocking Supplies For EMS Crews

Due to the potential of shortages and the inability to restock a vehicle at hospitals, a creative solution was needed and the EMS supply vending machine emerged. Found at local fire stations, medical clinics and hospitals these unique EMS equipment and supply vending machines provide EMS personnel with the medical equipment and supplies that they need on a daily basis to save lives.

Stock EMS Personnel – Minimize Waste

Another issue is a large amount of waste at the end of the month due to certain drugs or equipment not being used by its expiration date, costing hospital inventory management thousands of dollars. Medical supply vending machines make it possible to know when something is nearing expiration and reduce what is stocked to avoid unnecessary costs. This ensures that workers have what they need, without the excessive waste that often follows.

What About Security?

One of the biggest concerns that were introduced with the concept of a pharmaceutical vending machine was security. What would stop an average person from taking what they wanted – even narcotics – from these machines?

The solution is superior security that minimizes the potential for theft. This was achieved with high endurance security glass, fingerprint recognition, and code verification. All potential scenarios were thought through to make this a safe and viable option to get EMS workers the supplies they need.

While EMS equipment and supply vending machines are still a relatively new idea, the popularity of the machines is growing steadily. They offer a viable solution to a problem that is seen across the country. Ensuring that EMS workers have the tools they need to save lives is essential and this is exactly the benefit offered by these first aid vending machines.

UCapIt offers medical supply vending machines and secured locker systems that will meet the standards and security of EMS personnel. Contact UCapIt today to learn more at 877-771-4446.

Control Your Hospital Inventory with UCapIt’s Locker Systems

Posted on by John Van Horn

For healthcare professionals around the world, inventory control is always a top priority. Not only do you have to make sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have the integral supplies on hand to provide top-notch patient care and other services at all times, but you also need to curb things like theft and loss in any way that you can. A new series of hospital inventory control vending machines from UCapIt have already begin to enable medical, pharmaceutical and EMS professionals to accomplish exactly that.

Controlled Access Pharmaceutical Dispensers

UCapIt’s Controlled Access Pharmacy vending machines, also commonly referred to as CAP systems, bring with them a huge variety of different benefits that are hard to ignore. Each one of these machines is powered by a revolutionary inventory and tracking system, for example, that makes sure that only authorized users to have access to the important supplies and other contents contained inside.

Hospitals can use a number of different pieces of identification in order to authorize the machine before it dispenses a product. These can include things like PIN numbers, proximity card readers, fingerprint readers, bar code ID scanners and more. These protocols are designed to make sure that the people who actually need supplies have easy access to them, all the while keeping out people who may wish to abuse or even steal the important supplies contained inside the machine.

Actionable Information

The major benefit of UCapIt’s hospital locker systems, however, is one of reporting. Alerts can be sent to key individuals within an organization automatically via e-mail to warn them that stock on a particular product is running low, for example. This same warning can extend to other “need to know” situations like when a product is about to expire when the machine itself has become disconnected from the Internet for whatever reason when the machine has suffered a power outage and more.

The UCapIt machines can also be configured to control the temperature in any given zone down to the degree, allowing you to store temperature-sensitive supplies without worrying about product loss due to things like user error. All of this can also be accomplished remotely using a smartphone or tablet thanks to the cloud.

These are just a few of the many ways that UCapIt’s locker systems are revolutionizing inventory control in the medical profession for the better. Not only is preventing issues like theft or misuse easier than ever, but now these hardworking individuals finally have access to the information that they need to provide the best quality care to patients at all times.

How to Take Control Back in Your Hospital Pharmacy

Posted on by John Van Horn

Drug diversion is an incredibly serious issue that is affecting a huge number of medical facilities across the country. According to a survey conducted by the Mayo Clinic in 2014, drug abuse among those in the general population runs at around 5% annually. The theory is that the number will actually be higher for medical professionals like pharmacy employees, however, because they have convenient access to the drugs that they seek. Now, many organizations are turning to technological advancements to help take back control in their hospital pharmacies once and for all.

The technology that is commonly employed to combat this type of issue involves a machine called an automated dispensing cabinet. Not only do hospitals and other facilities get the convenience that is associated with a medical vending machine, but they also have different layers of security to help deter drug theft and keep criminals at bay. Certain machines can have up to five different authorized access levels, for example, allowing employees instant access to only the products and items that are relevant to do their jobs on a daily basis. All relevant employee information can be recorded for each transaction, keeping a detailed record of who is checking out which item at what time.

One example of an organization that is using this type of technology to curb drug diversion and theft issues is UCapIt. With UCapIt’s Controlled Access Pharmaceutical Dispenser, for example, all transactions between an employee and a machine are individually tracked and reported. Not only does this help medical facilities keep a better eye on their inventory and alert them to situations where orders may need to be placed, but it also inserts a new level of accountability into the equation. If you always know who is checking out items, you know exactly who to turn to in the event that something goes missing.

With UCapIt’s solutions, EMS professionals can instantly check their hospital pharmacy inventory 24 hours a day, seven days a week – even from remote locations. Some of the security measures that are in place on these devices include fingerprint readers, barcode scanners, proximity card readers, unique PIN numbers and more.

Though drug theft is a major issue at many hospitals and pharmacies around the country, companies like UCapIt are doing everything in their power to put technology to good use and ward off criminals once and for all. With automated dispensing solutions and additional layers of security, organizations won’t have to worry about these types of issues much longer.

ASU Student Health Center Does Not Live Up To Student Demands

Posted on by John Van Horn

One of the many positive attributes of the Student Health Center at ASU has to do with how forward-thinking the people that run it actually are. Not only does it allow students to make appointments on the Internet, but it also features both pharmaceutical vending machines and advanced medical procedures that are not available in any other similar location in the area.

Despite this, however, a recent study that was conducted realized that the ASU Student Health Center is still not living up to the demands of the students that actually go there, regardless of how advanced the facility may be on paper.

One of the many issues that students from ASU have to deal with involves longer than average wait times for the services they need, even if they’ve used the online portal to make the necessary appointment ahead of time. The director of the facility, Allan Markus, indicated that this was a problem with the building’s construction and had nothing to do with staffing or other types of services offered. The building was last expanded in 1969, he says, and simply does not offer the space required to meet up with the demands of the expanding school around it.

Things have not improved very much for the students since 2011. According to StatePress.com, the average appointment for a non-specialist is usually averaging around four days. More than that, the average time that a student has to wait to register for an appointment at all can be over an hour and a half in some extreme circumstances.

The facility is also in something of a Catch-22 situation. All modifications to the center are handled via fees that are billed to student accounts. Because there are too many students to handle, the quality of the service that the students are literally paying for by way of tuition is suffering as a result. At that point, it becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy that is hard to break away from.

One of the ways in which ASU Student Health Center officials could relieve many of these issues, however, has to do with wider adoption of medical vending machines across the facility. College medical vending machines are a great way to automate certain processes that used to take a great deal of time, money and energy to see through. If a student was coming into the facility to fill a prescription, for example, they wouldn’t necessarily have to wait in such a long line in order to do so.

Medical vending machines can also be a great boost to the staff, as they provide easy access to the important types of equipment that they are likely to use while treating students on a daily basis.

Robot Inventory Drug Control at University Health Services

Posted on by John Van Horn

The pharmacy at Penn State University’s Student Health Center has employed a robot lovingly named “Rex” to do everything from count pills to fill prescription bottles by way of automated pharmaceutical inventory control.

Rex is officially known as a “collating control center robotic prescription-dispensing machine,” which is essentially an automated medical vending machine on a much larger scale. Doris Guanowsky, the senior associate director at University Health Services at Penn State, says that this is exactly the type of technological innovation that is allowing them to serve and care for a greater number of people with each passing day. Rex is currently being used to fill the prescriptions of employees, students, retirees and everyone in between.

Guanowsky indicated that it is not common for a university to have this type of technology at all, let alone working in the Student Health Center. However, the huge volume of patients and prescriptions that the Center is responsible necessitated this emphasis on the best that modern technology has to offer. Over the 2013 to 2014 season alone, University Health Services filled more than 163,000 prescriptions. To put that into slightly different terms, that equates to between 600 and 1,000 prescriptions each and every day.

Filling a prescription is a lot more than just putting pills into a bottle. Patients have to be communicated with, insurance claims need to be properly filed, labels need to be printed en masse and more. By automating a large portion of these processes and delegating that responsibility to Rex, the Center is not only able to keep costs down but can also turn over a higher number of prescriptions per day.

In many ways, a college pharmacy vending machine solution like Rex is powered on similar technology to the type that UCapIt has been incorporating into its solutions for over 80 years. UCapIt provides a wide range of different technological solutions that healthcare providers depend on daily. The CAP 5, for example, allows healthcare professionals to have complete control over the dispensing of the widest variety of products and medical supplies. The CAP 5 Refrigerated adds in the ability to control an environment’s climate, increasing the total number of items that can be stored based on those conditions.

One thing is for sure: between the solutions that UCapIt provides and the ways in which medical centers like the one at Penn State are embracing modern technology, everyone is benefiting – from patients to healthcare practitioners and everyone in between.

Automated Vending Control Over Pharmaceuticals & Accountability

Posted on by John Van Horn

Experts estimate that at least 10% of the general population will have a problem with dependency on drugs or alcohol at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, hospitals have learned that their nurses and tech staff are not immune to addiction and dependency issues any more than others despite their extensive medical training. Nurses, in particular, have more direct access to controlled pharmaceutical substances than almost any other medical professional.

According to Kimberly New, a medication security consultant and executive board member of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators, “Nurses are the No. 1 care provider with regular access to controlled substances…We detect a lot more nurses than pharmacy staff diverting medications in inpatient settings.”

Long term care facilities are most susceptible to the problem of diversion, or theft of controlled substances by nurses. Unlike 80 percent of hospitals, medication dispensing in these facilities lacks automation. Instead, each time a nurse requires a medication for a patient, he or she typically removes it from a locked supply cabinet and manually charts the removal recording vital information such as date, time, the name of the patient, and the nurse responsible for its removal. When shifts change, the incoming nurse verifies the totals with the outgoing nurse.  This process is rife with opportunity for cover up of unauthorized access to controlled substances as well as simple human error.

UCapIt, a division of Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, is developing innovative vending solutions to prevent diversion. With a medical supply vending machine like UCapIt’s lockers or their pharmaceutical vending machine that looks more like a traditional vending machine, care facilities are better able to control access and inventory of medications and supplies.

The benefits of this new generation of medical vending machine services are undeniable.  Medical professionals face daily challenges of restricting access, accounting for inventory and ensuring that product doesn’t expire before it is used.

Automation can help address each of these issues, in particular with the issue of diversion and theft. Automated medical storage creates accountability by restricting access to personnel who use an authorized pin number, bar code scanner, or biometric such as a fingerprint to access the machine’s contents. Transactions are recorded automatically and available to inventory managers and nursing supervisors via the Internet.  A pattern of diversion of medication by nurses quickly becomes obvious.

Diversion of pharmaceutical supplies by nurses can be addressed and prevented by secure vending automation. A pharmaceutical vending machine or medical vending machine automates transactions and provides detailed records of access.

Safe and Secure with the CAP 3 and CAP 3 Refrigerated Vending Units

Posted on by John Van Horn

CAP is an acronym that stands for “Controlled Access Pharmaceutical Dispensing.” It refers to a type of system that medical institutions have adopted with enthusiasm regarding the dispensing of EMS supplies, the management of hospital inventory and more. The CAP system in particular was created by UCapIt to be an ideal solution for addressing control problems that are commonly associated with keeping track of pharmaceutical inventory, distributing products and more. Two of the most recent state-of-the-art products that are available to consumers are the CAP 3 and the CAP 3 Refrigerated Medical Vending Machines.

When you take a look at what the CAP 3 vending unit has to offer, it’s easy to see why it is making waves in terms of pharmaceutical supplies. The standard configuration of the CAP 3 involves 384 items, though the capacity can vary depending on the tray configurations that are selected. All communication is Web-based, meaning that diagnostic and user information can be sent over a nearby Internet connection. Standard features of the CAP 3 include either a barcode or magnetic stripe reader (depending on your preferences), the patented iVend Delivery Sensor System, a Parrot Door that is designed to enable the reuse of protective bags, fluorescent lighting and more. The CAP 3 is also compliant with the rules and regulations dictated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The CAP 3 is available in blue, black or red, allowing you to make sure that your unit fits in with the current visual aesthetic of your workplace. Custom colors are also available on request.

The CAP 3 refrigerated vending machine has all of the advanced features that were found in the CAP 3, only elevated to the next level. The standard configuration includes 412 items, though capacity varies depending on the selected tray configurations as was true with its predecessor. In addition to the iVend Delivery Sensor System and a barcode or magnetic stripe reader, the CAP 3 Refrigerated Vending unit also features fully functional LED lighting for increased visibility and high energy efficiency at all times. A heated glass option is also available that can be turned on and off at will.

When it comes to selecting pharmaceutical vending units, medical professionals need to know that the important equipment contained inside is always as safe and secure as possible. Both the CAP 3 and the CAP 3 Refrigerated Unit are computer-controlled to eliminate the possibility of user error and have been created with the highest construction standards possible. Each machine is verified to perform at the highest level possible to help keep hospital inventory available and secure at all times.