Tag: medical vending machine

How can your organization help control the spread of COVID-19?

Posted on by SaravanaKumar@wittern.com

 

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COVID-19 and the new workplace

In the early days of COVID-19, the whole world was very optimistic about how soon the flu-like epidemic will soon disappear. Two years later, the pandemic is still raging on. Every few months, a new wave emerges that seems to be larger than the previous [1]. Our workplace has evolved to meet these new realities. Factories, offices, shops, and warehouses have all adapted to the changing dynamics. Businesses have been trusted with taking the necessary steps to protect their employees and prevent an outbreak at the workplace. They must accomplish all of this while going about business as usual.

The good news is that technology can give businesses a helping hand with pandemic workplace safety. A combination of equipment, software, and processes can come together to reduce contamination, trace outbreaks early or provide necessary response supplies.

Availability of EMS Supplies

Prevention is better than cure any day of the week. Many businesses are driven by the desire to protect their employees from a dangerous disease. Some are also motivated to avoid the expensive downtime from a contagion-related stoppage and the ensuing sanitization costs. Timely access to PPE equipment and sanitization products can help both objectives. Placing PPE dispensing equipment at access points can ensure everybody who needs access to such supplies will get it. Our range of PPE Supply Dispensers are specifically designed for this purpose. They reduce wait times, eliminate queues, and provide a completely contactless experience while providing employees with face masks, sanitizers, gloves, tissues, and more.

Testing and Sample Collection

From the very beginning of this global pandemic, aggressive testing and tracing of infections have been a priority for health officials. Companies that need employees onsite for conducting business will need proper testing infrastructure to control spread. 

Testing Kit dispensing machines can provide much-needed access to test kits. When sample collection is authenticated by Employee ID or Key Cards, traceability of samples becomes very easy. This accelerates response and reduces the chances of uncontrollable spread. Technology can improve the ability to test and control spread. 

IDS’ UCapIt Rapid COVID-19 Testing Solution ensures easy access to self-administered COVID-19 test kits. Their design, operation, and footprint make them ideal for workspaces, campuses, and healthcare facilities. See how California universities are benefiting from COVID-19 Test Kit Dispensing Machines by downloading our case studies.

Reducing Contacts

COVID-19 pathogens stay active on surfaces like glass, metal, or plastic for several days. This makes every contact a potential opportunity for contamination. Thanks to the pandemic, a killer handshake can now truly live up to its name.

Fewer person-to-person interactions can have a tangible impact on containing spread within your office or factory. Strategically placed dispensing machines can be the insulation between the employee who needs tech supplies and the IT support team. MRO tools dispensing machines can eliminate the need for physically handing over tools and equipment from one individual to another. Vend Safety, for instance, uses iQ Technology, our in-house cloud-based inventory management software, to increase productivity and reduce costs.

If you are a shop owner, the chances of contamination can come from more places than within your business. Contact with customers is not as controllable as it is with your employees. BOPIS and retail collection lockers can eliminate that touchpoint. Our BOPIS/Click and Collect lockers give a novel and safe experience for your customers. Our retail lockers offer customizable lockers and intuitive user interfaces while being equipped with iQ Technology, which makes inventory management a breeze.

Safe Interfaces

Dependence upon dispensing equipment and lockers may make one wonder if they can be sources of infection. That is why responsible dispensing solution manufacturers like IDS Vending have developed UVend Technology, an ultraviolet-based disinfection technology. This can sanitize the touchpoints of the dispensing machines each time after use. UVend Technology can eliminate or deactivate 99.9% of viruses and bacteria. UVend Technology is our patent-pending technology that combines UVC rays with motion sensors to make high contact surfaces on the machine safer.

Trackability (iQ Technology, Chain of Custody)

Despite all precautions, infections can still happen. Businesses need to be prepared to respond to such instances. One of the first steps is to trace the source of infection and identify all contacts for isolation. Thanks to innovative software platforms like iQ Technology from IDS Vending, establishing the chain of custody of equipment used by the source of infection is easy. At the click of a button, you can trace all users who have interacted or used a particular piece of equipment. This helps health officials and businesses take the necessary precautionary actions.

Future Work Environment

As of the time, this blog was written, we are in what experts identify as the fifth wave. Though this has been several times larger in terms of the number of infections, thankfully, the fatality rates are much lower. In one form or the other, such mutations pop up once every few months. Businesses need to protect their employees while ensuring business continuity. Technology can help businesses meet such challenges. Controlled dispensing hardware and software platforms from IDS Vending can help you tide over any number of waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. To know more, call us at 1-855-526-2683.

References:

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College Campus Offers Emergency Contraceptive Plan B Via Vending Machine

Posted on by John Van Horn

Biomedical vending machines are becoming increasingly common in healthcare settings around the country, the Student Government at the University of California in Santa Barbara are taking Medical vending machines to a higher level. As explained by Nathan Rubbelke, student government leaders at UCSB have approved the purchase of a medical contraceptive vending machine that will dispense condoms, lube, tampons, pregnancy tests, and the morning-after pill, Plan B. However, this action raises a few interesting questions, and students need to understand how this machine will sexual health on campus.

What Triggered the Installation of the Plan B Vending Machine?

College life is hectic, and accessing items for reproductive health can be challenging for students. Although many of these items are accessible through the Health and Wellness program at UCSD, students need a way to access these items on weekends. This medical vending machines will provide access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is excellent for students who may not be able to access in-office resources do to work or school schedules.

Without the machine, students who have unprotected sex early in the weekend, such as Friday night, would be unable to obtain Plan B from Student Health until Monday. By installing this machine, student government leaders also seek to resolve another problem. On occasion, nearby pharmacies and Planned Parenthood may run out of Plan B, and students need to have access to the contraceptive as soon as possible.

Is This the First Time Plan B Has Been Offered Through a Pharmaceutical Vending Machine?

In 2010, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania installed a similar vending machines with the purpose of dispensing Plan B on campus. Little interest centered around the vending machine for two years, but the Food and Drug Administration began to look into the matter in 2012. Eventually, the FDA declined to take any action on the matter, and the college continued to sell Plan B from the vending machine.

What About Opposition to the Pharmaceutical Vending Machine?

There are opponents to the dispensing of Plan B in a vending machine. In fact, the president of the Anscombe Society at UCSB has expressed severe criticism over the very idea of installing a pharmaceutical vending machine with contraceptive items. While this sentiment emphasizes the group’s focus on maintaining sexual purity, students are already accessing Plan B through other measures, and this vending machine will simplify the needs of UCSB’s students who have been in the situation of finding an after-hours option for contraception.

The face of the pharmaceutical vending machine industry is changing. Once, mild pain relievers, mouthwash, and simple over-the-counter medications were available in vending machines. Now, female students can take a stronger role in ensuring their reproductive health with a medical vending machine, such as those designed by Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, to access over-the-counter Plan B when other means of obtaining the medication are unavailable.

Prescription Drug Vending Machine Brought on Campus

Posted on by John Van Horn

Over the last few years, you’ve no doubt gotten used to the fact that vending machines are no longer just a source for soft drinks and salty snacks. You’ve probably purchased at least one electronic device from a vending machine in an airport, or have at least seen someone do so. You’ve maybe even used a DVD vending machine or gotten your morning paper in much the same way. Now, providers are taking things to the next level by offering prescription dispenser units and other medical vending machine options.

Arizona State University’s Prescription Medication Vending Machine

In 2014, Arizona State University became one of the first educational institutions in the country to install a prescription dispenser on campus. Located in the Health Services Building, this unit was designed to help both make sure that people had quick and easy access to the medical supplies that they needed and to increase efficiency within that organization at the exact same time.

The medical vending machine was designed to fill the medical prescriptions of both students and university employees at a moment’s notice. By using a voucher with identifying information that itself is tied to a very specific code, any doctor could prescribe medication to a patient that could then be picked up at the vending machine within 24 hours.

This advancement couldn’t have come at a better time, too, as the pharmacy at Arizona State University closed just a few weeks prior. Thanks to the prescription dispenser, people were able to continue getting the service they needed without transferring to other pharmacies or seeing any other type of negative impact at all.

At its launch, the prescription medication vending machine offered the 50 medications that were most commonly prescribed to students on campus. Based on the type of software that the machine was powered with, this could change on a regular basis as trends did. If a new medication were to creep into that top 50, it would be added to the list and something that was less likely to be prescribed would be removed.

UCapIt

UCapIt is just one example of a company that is offering controlled access pharmaceutical dispensing options to healthcare organizations around the world on a daily basis. UCapIt solutions are armed with state-of-the-art software that allows not only for instant recording whenever a purchase is made, but also for things like detailed reporting, the tracking of who has access to which types of supplies, advanced inventory management capabilities and more.

This is just one example of the many ways that medical vending machine technology is positively impacting the lives of people all over the world on a daily basis. For students at Arizona State University, they found the process of filling a prescription was easier than ever before. It’s easy to picture a time not too far from now where these types of medical vending solutions are rolled out beyond college campuses and are located in drug stores, pharmacies and other locations across the world.

Hospital Scrubs in Public? What Are Your Thoughts?

Posted on by John Van Horn

Have you ever found yourself walking down the street or on the train during the morning commute and next to you is someone wearing a classic pair of hospital scrubs? What you’re seeing may be a bit more than just someone on their way to or from work – you may be looking at someone exposing everyone around them to danger, depending on the situation.

According to a recent report out of Tampa Bay, Florida, many local hospitals in the area were found to either have poor enforcement or no enforcement whatsoever regarding how often healthcare professionals need to clean their scrubs, change their scrubs and whether they’re allowed to be worn in the first place outside of the hospital environment.

The Dangers of Wearing Scrubs in Public

When it comes to things like germ and pathogen transfer, scrubs in public represent something of a two way street. In certain situations, a person who wears a pair of scrubs in an operating room or other emergency room environment could take pathogens from that location out into the world with them if they wear their scrubs when they leave the building. While it is unlikely that a doctor would go fresh from the operating room down the street to lunch without changing, it is still a very real concern.

However, it is not the biggest issue that this situation poses. A person who is allowed to wear their scrubs out in public could potentially bring outside contaminants INTO a highly sensitive medical environment, thus posing a risk to patients, other medical professionals and more. This is a large part of the reason why it is recommended that hospitals and other healthcare facilities institute a policy regarding where scrubs should and should not be worn and how often they need to be cleaned moving forward.

The Benefits of a Scrub Dispenser

ScrubTrak, a scrub dispenser from Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, is a piece of equipment that is designed to help relieve exactly these types of problems in the most innovative ways possible. Scrubs are dispensed from a vending machine, similar to the way you might pick up a candy bar or a cold snack on your lunch break. Not only can healthcare professionals keep a clean pair of scrubs within arm’s reach at all times, but the machine itself is also tied directly to both the healthcare facility’s inventory and to a user ID and other identifying account information. Administrators can keep track of how scrubs are being used, how long they’re being used and more – all from one innovative solution.

Wearing scrubs out in public could pose a danger to everyone who comes into contact with such a person, which is why innovative solutions like the medical scrub dispenser are so important in the first place. They’re using the latest that technology has to offer to make the world a safer, healthier place for everyone involved.

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.

13 Year Old CEO Hopes to Bring His “RecMed First Aid Kits” to Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

EMS supply vending machines configured to dispense a first aid kit on demand is the brainchild of 13-year-old CEO Taylor Rosenthal. Rosenthal’s company, RecMed First Aid Kits, was developed after a conversation with his parents who are both medical professionals and an opportunity presented by an entrepreneurial class at Opelika Middle School in Opelika, Alabama.

The kits contain basic medical supplies that could be useful to treat minor injuries on the sports field. Antibiotic sprays, bandages, adhesive tape, gauze pads and other first aid supplies come neatly packed in a clear plastic zippered case. Rosenthal has witnessed the need for such kits first-hand. “I mean I see it all the time…kids getting hurt at the ball fields playing baseball or something…and parents just go crazy…”

Rosenthal is working with The Round House Startup Space in Opelika to bring his dream first aid supply vending machines to fruition. According to Kyle Sandler, founder of The Round House, Rosenthal is a particularly devoted, hard-working CEO. Sandler had to essentially kick the teen out of the startup space to send him home on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday at home with his family.

Sandler also remarked that Rosenthal’s age affects how he views vending machines. According to Sandler, “… since he’s 13 and not 25… he’s more used to Redbox… so we made a couple of calls and now we have a computer-aided robotic vending machine in the works…” Eco ATM and RedBox have come on board to help Rosenthal get his product to market.

While sports fields were Rosenthal’s initial inspiration for the RecMed First Aid Kit vending machines, he doesn’t see athletic complexes as the solitary market for his product. He believes that anywhere families gather for recreation would present a feasible marketplace. He is already in talks with Six Flags Amusement Parks officials to places RecMed first aid vending machines in the parks to deal with the minor cuts and scrapes that young children are so prone to.

Rosenthal advanced to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy regional semifinals in Boca Raton in May 2015.

Source:

http://www.wltz.com/story/29172406/opelika-teen-competing-in-the-young-entrepreneurs-academy-regional-finals

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.

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.