For Alaris pump users how is your 3% Hypertonic Saline infusions set up in your Alaris pump?

There are several vendors offering inventory management solutions for hospital pharmacies, but it seems there is a lack of a single platform that could offer a comprehensive solution to track medication from the point of ordering, to receipt, then storage, dispensing, and administration to patient. Are there any success stories of implementing a robust inventory management system(s) in a multi-hospital health-system setting anyone could share, and any vendor recommendations?

Thank you in advance.
Daniel

What scanning solution at the point of dispensing of medication in the inpatient pharmacy (e.g. dispensing oral medications not loaded in ADM) do you have in place, if any? We are looking to implement a barcode scan verification process when dispensing medication from the hospital pharmacy (e.g. scanning medication barcode and verifying it matches the ordered medication in the EMR). I would love to learn how others have tackled this, especially if you have Cerner as your EMR.

Hello! Please see the SBAR below and make sure to like the post linked at the end if your facility could also use this EPIC functionality for titratable IVIG order.

*Situation
Current EPIC ERx build (Sanford Health Fargo) for IVIG titratable infusion does not allow for safe IVIG administration and documentation.

Looking for some examples of pediatric policies for comfort/palliative care, specifically addressing the use of continuous infusion drips with titration instructions. If you could share your EPIC order set that would be helpful as well. Thank You

Does anyone have a policy they are willing to share on guidelines for medications used as chemical restraints? Do you limit which meds can be used and at what doses a CRNA needs to be involved?

Has anyone outlined a process for handling patients who come into the hospital with a fentanyl patch (or any patch for that matter) on their body? 
1. Does the patch remain on the patient or is it removed?

2. If the patch is removed and it is a controlled substance (Fentanyl) how do you address the documentation/wasting component in the EHR, since there is no active order for the medication and would not correlate with a previous ADC removal?

Does anyone have a process that allows providers to obtain medications for use outside of hospital-approved protocol?

We had a provider requesting a medication for use outside of a protocol one evening and was told no. Provider did nothing however escalated the day with the request going to the P&T Committee. After much discussion around pharmacy just giving the medication with subsequent review, the decision was made to table while more research is gathered. One task was to see how other institutions handle these situations so reaching out for options. Thank you.

Hello,
What do you do in the event patient requests a prn pain medication to treat lesser pain when patient has a higher level of pain. For example, patient has a prn pain medication for moderate pain for Oxycodone 10 mg and prn pain medication for severe pain for Hydromorphone IV. Patient has a severe pain (level 8-10), however prefers to get Oxycodone that is intended to treat moderate pain. What do your nurses do in this situation?

We have historically always dispensed long acting insulin (glargine) by drawing up patient specific syringes in the pharmacy in 2 batches per day. Our ops team is interested in stocking long acting insulin vials in the Omnicell machines. Has anyone been successful with stocking vials in automation for nursing to draw up? We do have label printers at each omniell that we would utilize to print patient specific labels with barcodes.
Please let us know if you have pharmacy services 24/7 when you reply. Thanks so much!