Hospira: How to prevent medication errors and improve workflow through enhanced IT systems

How do you measure your organization’s success in assisting healthcare providers meet that challenge?
Hospira measures success throughout each customer interaction and improvements realized at the customer’s healthcare facility. For example, St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, implemented Hospira’s award-winning Symbiq® infusion pump with built-in Hospira MedNet®, which features intuitive control layouts and touch-activated buttons to minimize programming errors. Within 48 hours of installing the pumps, several medication errors had been prevented at St. Clair.

“The investment in the Symbiq intelligent pump immediately paid patient safety dividends. Since the pump monitors the volume infused, there is no need for manual calculations and this is a big time saver for the nurses,” says Richard Schaeffer, vice president and CIO, St. Clair Hospital. “As a result of integrating Symbiq with other technology, the medication administration data is more accurate, which enhances our documentation to support CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) reimbursement on outpatient IV therapy. As a result, we have already realized an increase in reimbursement of $10,500/month.”

St. Clair leveraged the integration of the Symbiq technology with Hospira’s VeriScan™ Rx Medication Administration System. This is a bedside bar-code point of care (BPOC) and radio frequency identification (RFID) reader designed to improve patient safety and outcomes as well as clinical workflow. The integration of the VeriScan and Symbiq technologies resulted in continuous quality improvement reporting and patient safety. This was confirmed via accurate medication administration records, reduced errors, auto-documentation, time savings for nurses through PDA alerts, more accurate billing, and increased reimbursement.