Med Pass Systems

excuse my english, I am from Norway:

I think we use singel dose system (every medic. for a week in a box, ) and you can give one singel plastic bubbel pakced by pharmacy dep. in your machine, and controlled their. Of course you have to cotroll it too, sign , and give evt. mixtur or not oral medication as ordered. I am not working in jail, but I have been dooing developing different systems for hospital, nursing homes, home-care and evaluated it. Hope this was som help. Its allways positive and negative things with every system, but you have to create the best/develope it!

From florry:)

We do 14 plus med passes per day in our facility. Recently changed from bulk to blister packs. Each med cart is stocked alphabetically by generic name. We now have a full time pharmacist and assistant and they package the pills in plastic frames using a machine that backs the frame with a foil backing. Given a choice, I think I would go with cards instead as the machine we use causes some capsules to break easier, or get foil stuck to the cap as it is pushed out. Esspecially bad are dilantin and tetracycline. The machine uses heat to adhere the foil to the plastic frame and I assume this is what causes the problem.

Hope this helps.

Just reread your post and realized that I didn't completely address your query.

We have med carts that we take out into the jail, at least one officer is standing by as meds are passed. Generally we pass at the doorway to each unit. Lockdown units must be passed cell to cell, and in those cases we use med cards for each individual, with the meds dispensed in the infirmary, then carried to the unit on a tray. Each patients meds are in a souffle cup with the med cards in a slot next to it on the tray.

I anyone using an automated medication dispensing system, such as Pyxis ot PickPoint?

Craws - Do you like the blister pack system? About how long does it take for you to pass meds? How many inmates? Any work comp injuries from pushing the carts around? What is your rate of med errors? Has it gone up or down since you changed to the blister packs?

Med errors have probably gone down as the carts are stocked identically. We are a County facility, so having packs for each individual is not as feasible as in a prison setting, too many coming and going. We take more time with this system, but it is better if you have agency or newer nurses passing as it is all alphabetical by generic name. We have a cheat sheet on every cart that lists the brand and generic name in case you need to check. The med passes vary in time spent, depending on patient and number of meds per each, familiarity with the pt and his or her meds, etc. Passes run anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the building and the mumber of patients. Some of the longer ones involve dormitory type settings, where there are 3-4 dorms per building. Having a pharmacist on duty does expedidte getting unusual meds, etc. plus the adantage of having a resource there for questions on newer,unfamiliar drugs and side efects, etc. We are trying to get to computerized MARS, which will free up lots of time for the nurses, and reduce med erors in transcription as well. Hope this helps.

Addendum:

No workmans comp from pushing carts, they are reasonably light weight and easy to move. Mostly made or some sort of plastic with easy rolling wheels. There are even carts on the market with motors. We do have one person on light duty, post surgery, who cannot push a cart per Dr order. I find that pushing the pills out of the blister packs to be more of a pfoblem, but as I said before, there are many options on the market and would suggest you check them all out before making a decison. We might have chosen something different had we been allowed a trial of each type available.

Thanks crawsu - you have been a big help.