4 August 2008

The deployment of Stylistic Tablet PCs from Fujitsu Siemens Computers lets us automate significant aspects involved in the dispensation of medications.

Massimo di Remigio, manager of IT at Pescara Clinical Center The hospital healthcare chain, which involves physicians, hospital dispensaries and nursing personnel, has considerable potential for error – for example, when prescriptions are filled out and read, or when daily dosages of tablets and pills are dispensed. In addition, errors can occur when medications are administered to patients.

Organisational procedures can also contribute to inadvertent mistakes. For these reasons the Pescara Clinical Center in Italy decided to deploy a new secure and reliable system using Windows Vista Business. Today, the hospital’s dispensary has an automated system that packs the entire daily dosage of pills, tablets and ampoules that a patient requires in a bag.

The Stylistic Tablet PCs from Fujitsu Siemens Computers that physicians and nursing personnel now use play an important role in this solution, which was implemented with the support of IT service provider Go Infoteam. Medical personnel now enter prescriptions or changes into their Tablet PCs. Data are then transmitted to the automated dispensary system via a wireless connection.

The system bags exactly the right medications in the right quantities for each patient’s daily requirements. Bags are also labelled with the name of the patients, the ward and an internal identification code. In addition, instructions for the use of the medications are provided on the bag. As a result, nursing personnel always know exactly who received what and in what dosage. The Pescara Clinical Center solution also features Primergy RX servers from Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

The deployment of Tablet PCs let the Pescara Clinical Center achieve a major improvement in healthcare quality and efficiency. Patients can also count on receiving exactly the right medications and dosages prescribed by their physicians every day. In addition, nursing personnel can double-check prescription information prior to administration.

The project also paid off under the bottom line. “Expenditure for medications dropped by approximately 30 per cent, or about three million euros per year,” reports IT manager Massimo di Remigio. Inventory costs were also reduced. For example, expired medications, which entail additional costs because they have to be properly disposed of, are a thing of the past.

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