Few people realize how important point of sale systems — particularly in retailers and hospitals dispensing prescription drugs and medicines — can be. Failing pharmacy point of sale systems and/or inefficient training can easily cost lives. That’s exactly what happened in an Ohio hospital in 2006.
Pharmacy Errors Result in Untimely Death of Two Year Old Girl
“My beautiful Emily’s death was senseless and preventable,” Emily’s father, Chris Jerry, writes on a foundation website dedicated to her memory. When Emily was just one and a half years old, doctors diagnosed her with cancer. According to Jerry, “The tumor was the size of a grapefruit inside her tiny little abdomen.” Against all odds, Emily’s tumor all but disappeared after several rounds of chemotherapy. Doctors recommended one final treatment, just to ascertain that all of the cancer was out of Emily’s system. This round of chemotherapy was her last — and it killed her.
The Ohio hospital blamed Emily’s death on two things. First, the hospital’s electronic system failed the night before — which may have accounted for inventory shortages on the day they prepared Emily’s chemotherapy bag. Second, a pharmacy technician prepared her chemotherapy bag incorrectly, filling it with 23.4% sodium chloride solution. It should have contained less than 1%! The pharmacy technician served several years in jail — and later house arrest — after her death.
How Can Pharmacies Stop It From Happening Again?
Emily’s death was preventable. Pharmacies can avoid tragedies with a few simple adjustments. First and foremost, accurate and up-to-date pharmacy point of sale systems — or POS systems — can save lives. Jerry also asks pharmacies to consider software that “provides real-time visibility into pharmacy inventory, so essential drugs and solutions can be monitored continuously,” Healthcare IT News continues. Jerry is also campaigning for more stringent registration procedures for pharmacy technicians. At the time of Emily’s death, Ohio (and many other states!) did not require any kind of registration for technicians.
Save lives (and avoid unnecessary tragedies!) with up-to-date pharmacy point of sale systems and live monitoring software. Continue reading here: www.rm-solutions.com To see more, read this: Pharmacy point of sale